Cupid's Psyche
by Michaelover101
Summary: Tristan is the owner of one of the most popular clubs in the San Diego County, and falls for SDSU student Rory Hayden. What happens when her personal family problems come in the way of their relationship. Trory.
1. Dramatis Personae

_**Title:**_ Cupid's Psyche

_**Author:**_ Michaelover101

_**Summery:**_ Tristan is the owner of one of the most popular clubs in the San Diego County, and falls for SDSU student Rory Hayden. What happens when her personal family problems come in the way of their relationship. Trory

_**Rating: **_M

_**Disclaimer:**_ Not mine.

_**Beta:**_ Flynn.

_**Notes:**_ This is a response to a challenge posted by Sooper Trooper on one of the forums. Hope I'll do it justice!

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_And I believe this may call for a proper introduction, and well_

_Don't you see, I'm the narrator, and this is just the prologue?_

_-Panic at the Disco_

_-------------------------------------------------_

_**Part 1: Dramatis Personae **_

Adjusting her glasses, she frowned over the text in the book and looked at the other on her left. Sighing, she took the glasses off, rubbing her eyes and resisted rubbing her temples to ease the headache that was brewing. God, she hated conjugating Latin verbs. She hated Latin altogether. Useless language, no one was ever going to use it. Why was she taking it again? Oh right, _great_ culture.

Rolling her eyes at herself for how big a nerd she was, she closed her books, deciding to call it a night. After stacking all of her books on top of each other, she managed to fit two of the big texts in her bag, meaning she had to carry the rest. In that pile there were _The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction to Their Life and Thought, The World of Rome, Medea, Forensic Oratory: Lysias, _and or course no Classics major would be complete without _On the Murder of Eratosthenes_ and _Lysias: Five Speeches,_ the abridged version of course.

Her friends would say she was torturing herself, being 2, 928 miles from home, she was getting rid of the homesick feeling by throwing herself into her work. It wasn't all true. If she really wanted to admit to herself, half the reason she had the headache was because of the conversation she'd had with her mother before sitting down to study. Her mother had gotten the pictures she'd sent, and had ranted on and on about Rory's many imperfections. From her clothing to her weight, her mother had chipped away any semblance of a good mood she had been feeling before walking into the library.

So no, she wasn't homesick. It was why she'd had chosen the great campus of San Diego State University. Not only did it have her majors and great programs for her, but it was across the country and she was able to get away with talking to her parents once a month, a blessing for anyone who knew Rory.

Leaving the library, she smiled thankfully at the librarian who'd let her stay so late. It was still a walk to her dorm across the campus. She stopped short outside the quad and hesitated. She should call the campus rent-a-cop to escort her to her dorm. Biting her lip, she started reaching for her phone when she heard her name being called out behind her. Well, her last name anyway.

"Hayden! Hey Hayden! Wait up."

Rory sighed, turning and knowing exactly who was going to be behind her. She watched as a man in his twenties ran up to her, his hair short and brown, torso protected by a button down blue shirt and leather jacket, and blue jeans with classic Chucks on his feet. He was holding hands with a laughing blonde as they ran towards her. The blonde was in low rise jeans and green halter top, making her green eyes look brighter as her long blonde hair flew behind her.

"Jess, Steph," she said as they came to stand in front of her.

"Another night in, Venus?" Stephanie laughed.

Rory looked down at her appearance, Ugg boots, and in her red sweats, with the black block letters that read 'GO AZTECS' with the logo on it, and a large blue hoodie that was twice her size. Her glasses were once again covering her eyes and she knew her hair was in disarray from her cramming highlighters and pencils into the bun. Reaching up, she felt around, coming out with a blue highlighter she thought she had lost.

Placing it in her bag she looked at her friends. "Where are you two off to?"

"Cupid's Psyche," Jess responded. "A club downtown."

Rory roiled her eyes. Stephanie Merdock and Jess Mariano, on and off couple for five years, lived for clubbing. She'd known both of them while growing up. Jess was her cousin, and Stephanie had gone to school with them in the hollowed halls of Hartford High. Jess and Stephanie had fallen for each other, but they were a couple that liked to argue, break up, couldn't last a week, then get back together. They had ten anniversaries of when they got together, and damn if they didn't celebrate each and every one.

When they had made a list of all the colleges they had wanted to go to, their lists were identical, of course. Rory wasn't aiming for Princeton or Yale like her parents wanted her to (their Alma Maters), she'd gone for all the state schools and Ivy League schools across the country. When they'd all been accepted to SDSU, they all jumped at the chance of leaving their small town of Hartford, and a reason to get away from home.

Even if it meant Rory had to hear about it every time she went home.

"So you coming, Venus, or not?" Stephanie asked.

Venus was the nickname Jess and Stephanie had given her for her love of Greek and Roman Mythology. They said that while she dressed horribly most of the time, the minute she fixed herself up, she could double for the Roman goddess.

"I'm good, I've got a paper to write."

"Boo on you!" Stephanie said sticking out her tongue.

Rory rolled her eyes as they made their way across the quad. "I really don't want to go out tonight. I'll take a rain check though."

Jess smiled pulling Stephanie closer. "We're holding you to that."

Rory laughed. "I don't doubt it; I just have a huge work load this week. I'll go out with you guys next week, I swear."

"Why next week?" Stephanie asked as they walked Rory to her dorm.

Rory hesitated, bit her lip and looked away from her friends. Jess groaned. "It's a news thing, isn't it?"

Rory winced. "All right, all right! I'll admit! I have to go and review this club."

"Oh jeez, Rory, don't you ever do anything for fun?" Stephanie asked.

"Of course I do!"

"Reading the entire series of 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' is not what we consider fun," Jess pointed out.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I let loose you guys. I'm not always studying."

"Yeah, you are," Stephanie said. "If you're not in your dorm studying, you're in the library studying, or you're in the café studying or..."

"Okay, I get your point," Rory said, getting her keys out of her bag.

"Rory," Stephanie said, putting her hands on Rory's shoulders and shaking her a bit. "We're in college now, we're supposed to have fun and not study hard."

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Maybe in Merdock-Mariano land. But in Gilmore-Hayden land , I actually want to get my degrees and graduate."

"And you will, sweetie, but maybe it's time you ditched the books and the 'frump' look you've been sporting for the last year, and just... act like a normal college girl!"

Jess sighed. "Whatever Aunt Lorelai and Uncle Chris said to you, they were dead wrong, Rory, and it's time you realized it."

Stephanie shook her head giving her pity-filled look that had Rory shifting her weight.. "Oh Rory, you're still not holding on to that, are you?"

Rory sighed and unlocked her door. "When are you two going to get it through your heads, I like studying, it has nothing to do with my mom and dad, thank you. And while I like partying like every other frat boy and sorority girl on this damn campus, I'd rather just stay here and..."

"Let Nate molest you?" Jess asked with a smirk.

Rory sighed. "Okay, you know what, this conversation is over. You guys go party or club or whatever it is you do and leave me to my books and nerdiness." She opened the door, only to run into a solid chest. Wincing and rubbing her forehead she looked up at the six three form of her best friend Nate. He held her lightly, making sure she didn't fall from the collision, and smiled.

"Rory, my very own Venus de Milo, you're home," he greeted letting go and digging out a rag from his back pocket, wiping his hands free of paint.

"Nate," she said glaring at Jess and Stephanie before going inside to drop her things in her room. Nate sighed and looked at Jess and Stephanie.

"What'd you two idiots do?"

"Telling Rory she needs to act normal for once," Stephanie said loud enough for Rory to hear.

Nate shook his head and closed the door. "You know pushing her like that isn't going to do anything."

Nate stood at six three, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was in paint-stained jeans and a tight blue muscle tee. He was Rory's roommate and none of the SDSU administrators knew about it. Rory had gotten a screwed up room assignment but when she'd met Nate, he'd taken her under his wing and kept her with him. And the fact was that she was loved by all the guys in the housing complex. Half of them thought of her as a little sister, while the other half wanted in her pants, having seen her outside the frumpy clothing. Nate was part of the half that considered her a sister.

"We just want her to have a little fun," Jess said. "And if it means shaking her a bit..."

Nate sighed "I get that, but come on; throwing her parents in her face isn't going to solve that. You know better than I do what that does to her. Just let it go. If she wants to go, she'll go out."

Stephanie sighed and looked at Jess who shrugged. "Fine, but tell her next week she's going. She owes us."

Nate nodded as he watched his two friends leave. Going back inside, he saw Rory sitting on the couch, her feet huddled to her chest. After closing and locking the door, he sat next to her, still wiping his hands before throwing the dirty rag on the table.

"You okay?"

Rory shrugged. "Tired, I think I'm going to bed."

"Ror-" Nate started, but Rory shook her head and held up a hand.

"It's not them, Nate, I swear. I'm over it. I just really did not want to go out tonight. I'll see you in the morning."

"Rory."

Rory sighed and looked at him. "What?"

"Say it."

"Nate," she sighed tiredly, not up for Nate's therapeutic mantra. He was a double major in Art and Psychology and annoyed her to no end with his psychobabble sometimes. Though in other times it came in handy.

"I'm serious, say it."

Rory sighed. "I'm beautiful and no one can tell me otherwise."

"Damn right," Nate nodded as he watched her grab her bag and go off to her room. Nate sat on the couch, looking at the painting he'd stopped working on when he'd heard the arguing outside. Rory parents sure had done a number on her growing up. Her self-esteem was non-existent, to where not even she really thought she was beautiful

Everyone but her saw it, it was a pity really. She hid behind her books and studies to avoid the gazes of young men who lusted after her. Half the guys she was friends with all said that if she stopped using the baggy clothing, she's be a knock-out, though the baggy pants and big sweatshirts gave her an even more innocent look that turned them on to no end.

Sighing, he picked up his paintbrush and walked back over to the easels, picking up his pallet of paint. Rory really needed to stop living in her parents' shadow and start making herself her own person. She was beautiful and it was high time she really admitted it.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Working late again?"

The pounding music entered his once silent domain as Finn opened the door, only for it to be quieted once again, when the door slapped shut.

"Yeah, I'm working on these figures."

"Again?" Finn sighed, straddling the chair and looking at his best friend.

Tristan DuGrey was one of San Diego's most wanted bachelors, owning one of the hottest clubs in the county. His blonde locks and boyish good looks grabbed the attention of all the ladies, but it was his piercing blue eyes that captivated a person. The only flaw was that Tristan was a workaholic. Though he loved his club, his own little baby, he spent his time perfecting it, crunching the numbers, checking inventory. Finn and their other friend Colin were lucky they even got a say on the finished product.

But then Finn was only a part time bartender and silent partner.

Tristan looked up at Finn. "I'm just crunching some numbers, Finn."

Finn Morgan had been his best friend since middle school, after misunderstanding that had caused both of them to get detention, and Tristan to leave with a new best friend. He had dark brown hair that went every which way and dark brown eyes. His naturally tanned skin and exotic accent had girls swooning, and he picked them up and charmed the pants off every single one of them.

He had put up his entire savings to become a silent partner in Cupid's Psyche with Tristan, and so far he hadn't been let down. Half the reason was because Tristan was too invested in Cupid's Psyche to let any of his friends down.

"You do realize that the place is full, and that there's a line two blocks long just to get in. We've reached our capacity."

"I know, Finn, you come in here every ten minutes to remind me," Tristan laughed; closing the laptop he'd been staring at and getting up. He grabbed his empty glass and followed Finn out the door. He'd been right, the place was packed. The club band was on the stage already into its second set. Hep Alien caused a riot when they played, which was why Tristan had hired them as the in-club band.

"So did you get the band for next Wednesday?" Finn asked moving behind the bar as Tristan leaned against the far corner on the counter, handing Finn his glass.

Tristan nodded. "Yeah. We held that poll last moth to see who Latin Americans would like to see more and that band 'Zoe' won. I called up their managers and they usually play clubs. I've got the ads running today and some commercial spots on local channels. Tickets are selling fast, my friend."

Finn nodded handing him the drink. "What about 'The Fray'?"

"Still trying to convince them, and I'm working on 'Cold War Kids' which seem more likely at this point." Tristan took a drink of the alcohol in the glass wincing as it slid down his throat.

"What about for our Alternative group that come in once a week?"

Tristan shrugged. "Right now I have no idea who we could get. My Chemical Romance is out of the question, same with Taking Back Sunday and The Used. We could try on Underoath, they seem more likely to come." Tristan frowned as he looked out at the dancing people and scanned the crown. "Have you seen Colin lately?"

Finn shook his head. "Nah, I think he's out of town for the week. I got a message from him a few days ago saying he wouldn't be around for a while."

Tristan shrugged. It wasn't unusual for their friend to go missing a couple of days during the month. In high school it had been Finn who would disappear and Colin had been the reliable one to be found wherever. After college though it seemed as if Finn and Colin had switched roles, and Finn had been the go-to guy and Colin had been the one disappearing for days on end.

"Hey Morgan! Serve me up some rum!"

"Hey Merdock! Leave me the hell alone!" Tristan turned and saw a blonde smiling at Finn while Finn smiled back. "Where's that boyfriend of yours, love?"

The girl shrugged. "Around here somewhere."

"And that friend of yours? You promised to bring her by this week."

The girl stuck her tongue out. "She's a real downer tonight, stayed home to study. I swear that girl gets more boring by the second, now get me my beer!"

"You're underage, love! I'm not allowed to serve you!" Finn laughed.

"Oh screw you! I'm twenty-one and you know it! Now get me my beer, Morgan!"

Finn laughed reaching down into the coolers and getting out two bottles, uncapping them like a pro and handing them to the girl. "I expect a big tip."

"The biggest!" The girl laughed, taking the beers and flouncing off.

"Who's the girl?" Tristan asked.

Finn shrugged. "Her name's Stephanie. She and her boyfriend come in once a month and bug the hell out of me. But you know what they say, bartenders make the best therapists. They break up every once in a while and come and wallow here, as if I didn't have anything better to do with my time than listening to them bitch about their love lives."

Tristan smirked. "But you listen anyway, you big softie."

"Oh sod off." Finn laughed. "Barely know the girl."

"Right," Tristan nodded, taking another drink. He looked around the club again, the pounding music echoing in his ears, not allowing him to think. The bodies pressed against him as they made their way to the dance floor or towards the bathroom to his right. Grunting, he looked over at Finn who smirked knowingly at him.

"Go up, you homebody."

"Thank you," Tristan muttered, putting his drink down and going back to his office. He closed the door, drowning out the music, then went towards the door behind his desk. He opened the door and faced the stairs that led upstairs to his apartment. Closing the door behind him and climbing the stairs he left the club and went to his domain.

Though he liked to party, there were some nights where he didn't want to deal with the bodies and the drunken noises or the music pulsing in his head. He took off his coat and threw it haphazardly on the chair before toeing off his shoes and making himself comfortable on the black leather couch that had cost him a small fortune at Ikea.

Grabbing the remote from the coffee table in front of him, he turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, happy to be away from all the noise downstairs. He was in the mood to be left alone.

Ten minutes before Finn had walked through the door, his mother had once again called to ask when he'd settle down and give her grandbabies. He was twenty-six after all, it was time he'd settle down finally.

"Mom,' he'd said, "I'll settle down when I settle."

"I'm getting old, Tristan, and soon I won't be here anymore and what then, huh? Are you waiting until I'm in the ground to marry?"

"Jeez, mom, of course not. And you're fifty, that's just the half way point. It's not like I'm burying you anytime soon."

That had been the wrong thing to say apparently, seeing as she'd gone on and on about how he and his brother and sister never respected her and never gave a damn about her, especially after going through twenty odd hours of labor to bear them. He'd calmed her down by saying he'd work on it and he loved her, then hung up.

He didn't understand why his mom continued to bug him about grandchildren. His brother John had a wife already and was expecting their third child. Of course John was twenty-nine and had been married since he was eighteen and dated the same girl since he was fifteen. John Matthew DuGrey was the golden child of the DuGreys, yet he and Tristan were close and while he wouldn't admit it to anyone else, he loved his nephew and niece to death.

His sister Marlee Janine DuGrey or Mars as she was affectionately known was the youngest at twenty. And of course she had a boyfriend that she'd been dating since she was eighteen and they were getting married when she graduated. So really, she had a fiancé.

So that left Tristan, the middle child, and the only one who hadn't been able to keep a girlfriend around for more than a month. He liked girls, so he knew he wasn't gay, not that his family would have a problem with it if he was. If anything, they'd fight tooth and nail for him and his partner to get adoption.

Tristan winced, now he was fictionally gay with a partner working on a child. This was what happened when he talked to his mother. He confused himself and made his own head hurt from thinking too much and about such inane things.

"Shit, I need a vacation," he muttered rubbing his eyes.

He was twenty-six, a workaholic and named San Diego number one bachelor, meaning he had girls vying for his attention all the time. It was just the fact that none of them caught his attention for long. He'd slept with girls, lord, he had slept with girls. But none of them could hold a conversation for long, no wait, they could hold a conversation, just not an intelligent one.

None of them were the marrying material, not that he even wanted to get married. At this point his wife was Cupid's Psyche, and that's the way he planned on keeping it. He wasn't looking and no matter how many girls Finn, his parents, or any one else pushed on him, he wasn't going to bite.

Rubbing his eyes again he sighed. "I really, really need a vacation."

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

_**AN:**_ Hope you all enjoyed. This is going to be extremely AU, if anything. I'm not keeping to the show, I'm just using the names and a bit of their personalities. Next chapter up soon I hope!

Kassandra


	2. Liquid Dreams

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"_Now this hot girl, she's not your average girl_

_She's a morpharotic dream from a magazine_

_And she's so fine designed to blow your mind_

_She's a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen"_

_- O-Town_

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_**Chapter 2: Liquid Dreams**_

"Well, look at you," Nate smiled as Rory came out of her room.

Rory looked down at herself. She was in skinny striped jeans, with her black T-strap heels and a blue cami that showed too much cleavage if they asked her. She wasn't comfortable showing as much skin as she was. She wasn't comfortable with her hair, falling in front of her face in natural curls, and she wasn't comfortable wearing the make up she'd been forced to wear.

"I'm showing too much," Rory said crossing her arms.

Nate laughed going over to the closet and pulling out her denim jacket. "Just enough. Leaves the guys guessing."

Rory shrugged into the jacket, fixing her hair.

"Look at that, no highlighters."

Rory laughed. "Shut up."

Nate shook his head putting his own jacket on and turning off the TV. He wore dark blue dress jeans and his worn brown screen tee that had a cowbell on it, and said "More Cowbell' in big white letters. Needless to say Nate was a big SNL fan. "Ready?"

"Not really," Rory sighed grabbing her bag.

Nate pulled it out of her hands and went through it taking out her cell phone. "You're only going to need this, me and Jess are taking care of the drinks."

Rory nodded pocketing her phone and grabbing Nate's hand letting him lead her out. Stephanie and Jess had been on her back about going out, and after pleading with Nate to keep her company, she'd finally given in. Jess and Stephanie were elated to say the least.

"You look fine," Nate reassured. "Beautiful, guys are going to drop at your feet."

Rory winced. "Not really what I want, Nate, but okay."

Nate wrapped his arm around his friend and kissed the top of her head as they walked to Jess's piece of crap car.

"'Bout time you two got here," Stephanie said as she pushed her seat forward so Nate and Rory could get in.

"You look great, Rory," Jess said as she buckled up.

"So I'm told," Rory said quietly, gripping Nate's hand as Stephanie slammed the door closed, the only way to shut the door in Jess's piece of shit car. Jess left the parking lot and started their way towards the club downtown.

"It's the coolest club!" Stephanie said twisting around to look at Rory who was sitting behind Jess. "The bartender is so cute."

Jess rolled his eyes. "She only says this because he gives her free drinks."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Trust me, you won't find a bad word to say about the club."

"We'll see," Rory said with a smile. An hour later Rory was sitting on the second floor of the club, looking down at the dancers from her place at the table near the railing. Nate smirked.

"What's going on in that pretty little head of yours, Venus?"

Rory looked at her friend. "Not one bad word?"

Nate laughed. "You've got bad words to say?"

Rory nodded as she changed seats to be closer to him. "The sound system sucks, they didn't check IDs, and the fact that I'm twenty and this is my second beer is something to worry about. I've witnessed three brawls in the last ten minutes and not one security guard, one must have had a broken nose, 'cause blood was pouring from his nose and no one has come to clean it up from the floor yet. And..."

"There's more?" Nate laughed, taking a drag of his beer.

"Yeah, there's more," Rory nodded. "The dance floor is so small people have to grind against each other to actually dance."

Nate smirked. 'That's actually a pro."

"Perv."

"Maybe," Nate shrugged looking down and finding Stephanie and Jess dancing out on the floor. "Do you wanna dance?"

Rory shook her head. "I'm not a dancer."

"Who says? You or your parents?" Nate asked, looking at her dryly.

Rory glared, taking a drink of her beer before standing up. "Let's go."

"That's my girl," Nate laughed, putting his drink down and leading her down the steps. They shook as they stepped down.

"Not structurally sound," Rory said loud enough for Nate to hear. "Remind me of that."

Nate laughed. "Anything if it means you'll grind against me."

"Perv!" She laughed letting him lead her to the floor.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Where the hell are the tech guys?!" Tristan yelled, causing Finn to wince.

"I'm just the bartender, mate, I'm not in charge of tech."

Tristan sighed as they left the office. Tristan looked out at the club and sighed. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong this night. His sound system was going to crap, meaning he'd have to get it fixed in the morning, his security wasn't doing their job, and the fact that he could still see blood from the last fight that had occurred had him worried for safety.

"Get someone to discreetly clean up that blood, Finn. If someone slips on that, I'm going to have a lawsuit on my head instead of just locating my tech guys."

"Sure thing, boss." Finn left to find the cleaning crew, also checking on the new part-time bartender to see how she was faring with the crowd. Finding the cleaning crew, he told them what needed to be done and left them to go behind the bar.

"Hello kitten," he said, grabbing a beer and handing it to one of the people ordering. "How are you doing?"

"Call me kitten again, and you'll know," she said moving behind him and finding out what someone else wanted. He smirked. She was a tough nut to crack this one.

Paris Geller was her name. Long dirty blonde hair and curves that had him drolling, not the mention that her attire at the moment consisted of low rise jeans and a black tank top with the club's logo of pink cursive words reading 'Cupid's Psyche' with a cupid cherub on one corner and a girl cherub on the other, which raised high, giving him a nice glimpse of her midriff and the pink dangly belly button ring she had.

"You planning on moving?"

Finn frowned as he looked and found her right next to him. "Huh?"

"The mugs. I need a mug, you're standing in front of them. Can you move?"

"Right." Finn moved away. "Looks like you're holding up well, I'll just leave you be."

"Sounds like a plan," she said as he moved away and she grabbed a mug. Finn frowned as he went back to Tristan. He had moved from his previous spot at his office door to the second floor, looking out at the dance floor, with a drink in his hand. Finn went up and stood next to him.

"Everything all right, mate?"

"Cleaning crew cleaned the floor up," Tristan muttered, looking down at the somewhat clean floor.

"Yep," Finn nodded. "Real nice too."

"How's Paris holding up?"

Finn smirked. "She's holding up real nice." He saw Tristan roll his eyes and could tell he wasn't in the playful mood. So he went back to a serious mood, something rare for Finn, and asked. "Find out what's wrong with the sound?"

Tristan shook his head and took a drink of whatever liquid was in the glass. "Some asshole spilt beer on the damn left speaker wire. The guys are coming in in the morning to fix it, going to cost a shitload. I have to get a new speaker, along with new wiring." Tristan shook his head. "Damn, this night is crap."

Finn laughed. "Do you want to hole up in your apartment for a while?"

"Wish I could," Tristan scoffed. "But when I get there, my ears are going to be assaulted with my phone ringing. Why you ask? Because my mother's been calling wanting me to settle down. My damn sister wants me to get some damn tux fitted for her wedding which isn't for another five months, mind you, and my damn sister-in-law wants me to watch the kids on Friday night. Plus that damn Huntzberger's been calling me."

"At your place?" Fin asked in surprise. Logan Huntzberger was the man that owned 4-2-9, three blocks down. He was also Cupid's Psyche's major competition.

"Yeah. How the hell he got my home phone, I'll never know, but that damn bastard's been calling me non-stop to see if I'll sell."

"You won't, right?"

Tristan glared at Finn. "Of course I'm not selling, Finn." Tristan shook his head. "Told the bastard that, too. But he's still calling." Tristan shook his head. "Dear god, what a shitty night this has been."

Finn patted Tristan's arm sympathetically. "I'll call the tech guys first thing in the morning. And I'll get the inventory done. You sleep in and don't worry abut a thing."

"My damn club, I'll worry about what I want to worry about," Tristan spat out.

"Fine, then I won't restock the shelves and you call the tech guys, and I'll sleep in. Could care less, just trying to shoulder the burden. I'm partner, Tristan."

"Silent, meaning you keep your mouth shut and just tend the bar," Tristan winced. "Sorry."

"You're stressed, I get it. I've been getting phone calls from my own mum. Apparently I'm to find a good suitable woman while in the States." He looked towards the bar. "Now if that fine, suitable woman would only look at me."

Tristan smirked. "Vying for the young miss Geller's attention, are you?"

Finn smirked right back, taking advantage of Tristan's good mood at the moment. "Have you seen that girl? Dear god, she's teasing me, and that belly button ring gets me downright hard."

Tristan winced. "Too much information, Finn."

"Fantasies, Tristan. That girl is made for fantasies." Finn's eyes wondered the floor, stopping and smirking. "Yet again so is she."

Tristan followed Finn's gaze and easily landed an the girl he was talking about. She was in the middle of the dance floor in a four person sandwich. A guy, the brunette which Finn had his eyes on, a blonde girl and another guy all grinding against each other. The guy closest to the brunette had one hand on her hip while the other held the neck of a beer bottle. He was smiling at her as the blonde girl's hands wondered the other side of the girl's hip, laughing and leaning her head on the guy behind her shoulder.

Friends. He could tell they were all friends, by the way the moved and laughed. But his eyes were trained on the brunette. Her hair was loose, yet sticking to her neck and chest, her body slick with sweat from being in close proximity of people around her. She had long legs and her height was misleading by the heels she had on. But damn, now there was a girl of fantasies.

The blonde and the guy who seemed to be the blonde's boyfriend by the way the touched, disengaged themselves and talked briefly with them before leaving the dance floor.

"Well, I'll be damned," Finn said. "That's Stephanie."

"What?" Tristan asked.

"The blonde, from last week..." Finn looked at Tristan as he gave a blank stare. "You saw her last week, mate... Oh, never mind," Finn said as he watched them climb the steps and near them.

Tristan continued watching the girl, smiling up at the guy near her. He leaned in and whispered something, causing her to smack his arm but laugh. He pulled her closer, her hand unstuck her hair, then wrapped around his neck as she moved with him. Jesus, he'd never seen anything more sexy than this girl in his life.

"Steph!"

Tristan turned and saw Finn waving the couple towards them.

"Finn!" She laughed hugging him. "You remember Jess, right?"

"Nice to see you again, mate," Finn said shaking the guy's hand. "This is Tristan DuGray, he's the owner of the club."

"Oh wow," Stephanie smiled, shaking Tristan's hand. "Nice to meet you. Got to say Cupid's Psyche ranks on our top five list of clubs."

"Thanks," Tristan nodded. "Nice to know. Sorry about the sound tonight, we've got a bit of technical difficulties. It'll be fixed."

Jess shrugged. "Just as long as the music's going, we're happy, right, babe?"

"Right," Stephanie nodded laughing.

"You bring your friend tonight?" Finn asked.

"Two," Jess said nodding towards the dance floor.

"They're right... there," Stephanie said scanning first, then pointing them out.

"The brunette?" Finn asked. "She's downright... Damn."

Stephanie laughed. "Be sure to tell her that when you meet her."

"What's her name?" Tristan asked, surprising them all by his sudden comment. He didn't turn, but kept his eyes trained on her.

"Too young for you," Jess said protectively.

Stephanie elbowed him. "Shut up, Jess."

"Steph!" Jess warned.

"Lorelai Gilmore," she answered.

Tristan nodded, storing that bit of information, but still watching her. He pushed away from the railing and looked at Finn. "I'm turning in for that night. I'm unplugging my phone too, so don't try to call."

"Got it, boss."

Tristan bid them goodbye before going down the stairs, feeling them rattle under his feet. "Shit," he muttered. Yet another thing to get fixed in this damn place. He made his way to the other side of the bar, yet never taking his gaze away from Lorelai. She was even more beautiful up close. Now replace him with the guy dancing with her and he'd be in absolute heaven.

"Can I get you something, boss?" He heard. Looking up he found himself leaning against the bar.

"Some tissues would be great," he muttered tearing his gaze away.

"Excuse me?" Paris asked.

He turned and smirked. "Nothing, Paris, how are you holding up?"

"Great, I love the rush," she smiled. "Now if only you could get a certain Aussie off my ass."

Tristan laughed. "He has to be on it first to get him off."

"Funny, boss."

Tristan laughed. He'd known Paris Geller since he'd been fifteen. They'd gone to school together having a good friendship and keeping in touch. She'd gone to New York for college, while he stayed in San Diego. After her graduation two years ago she'd moved back and worked in some hole in the wall bar, while he built Cupid's Psyche.

He'd hired her, because she was a damn good bartender and because it was great to have friends around while he worked. She knew when to back off and when to prod, usually prodding, knowing she had to back off, but he loved her all the same.

"I'm going up to my place for the night," Tristan said, glancing back at the dance floor, only to find Lorelai gone.

"All right. Phone unplugged?"

"Yep. So if my mother, brother, sister-in-law or sister call, tell them I'm having phone problems and I'll call them back when I get a chance. And if that bastard Huntzberger calls, tell him to fuck off."

"You got it, boss man," Paris laughed.

Turning, he felt someone bump into him, then a small hand on his arm. Looking down, he followed where the hand was attached to and found bright blue eyes smiling at him.

"Sorry," she said over the music. "Didn't mean to bump into you."

"Oh, don't worry about it," he responded as she smiled and leaned against the bar. He leaned back against the counter as her friend ordered.

"Two beers and a water," he said, causing Paris to raise an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and dug into his back pocket, producing his ID.

"Thanks, be right back with the order," Paris said.

"Nate, you can not tell me that you don't know the difference between Athena and Artemis."

"Sorry," he shrugged laughing.

"One, they both had no bearing on the story of Eros and Psyche."

"Didn't Artemis help Psyche by sending the spiders to sort out the grain?"

Tristan watched her wince, then groan. "You're mixing up like five different myths, you idiot. One, it was Athena who made Arachne into a spider, after she overheard the young girl say she was a better weaver. Two, it was ants that sorted out the grain, not freaking spiders. The ants took pity on her and helped her, there was no goddess interference. Three, Artemis is nowhere near those stories. She was the goddess of the hunt, Athena is the goddess of wisdom. Four, the only other goddess besides Aphrodite that had any type of role in the Eros and Psyche story was Persephone, by giving Psyche the box."

"You're forgetting one," Nate said.

"What?"

"You're forgetting two goddess actually."

Rory frowned, then narrowed her eyes on him. "Demeter and Hera don't count."

"Yeah, they do, V."

"No, they don't."

"They're goddesses and they had a very important part in the story. Had it not been for them, Psyche would have never gone to Aphrodite's temple and would have never worked to get her lover back. Therefore Demeter and Hera play a very big part in the story."

Rory scoffed. "Art majors."

Nate mimicked her. "Classics majors."

She slapped his arm as he grabbed the drinks the bartender handed them and slipped her a twenty. "Thanks," he said as Rory grabbed the water and they started to walk away. Tristan watched as they traded the water for one of the beers as soon as they were out of eyeshot from Paris before climbing the steps.

So Lorelai Gilmore was a Classics major, interesting. From what he'd heard, she sure knew her mythology. Smiling even more, he pushed away from the counter and went to his apartment, wondering how he would find out more about this Lorelai Gilmore.

Rory took a drink of the beer Nate had handed her and climbed up the steps holding on to his hands

"I'll see you two later, have fun!" They heard an accented voice say as they passed. They saw a man walk their way and smile at Rory. "You, love, were amazing on the dance floor."

"Oh... I..." Rory frowned.

"Sexy as hell too."

Nate snickered as Rory blushed. "Thank you... I think."

"It's a compliment... take it," the man said. "Now I have an irate bartender to bother, have fun," he called before going down the steps.

"That was... odd," Rory said as they sat down at the table.

"Structurally unsound," Nate reminded. "And you have to learn how to take a compliment, V," he said. He was the only one that was able to shorten her nickname of Venus to V, he was the only person she'd tolerate it from.

"I know how to take compliments," Rory said scribbling in her notepad.

Nate rolled his eyes and looked at his watch. "It's almost three, wanna leave the clubbers here and head back?"

Rory bit her lip before nodding. "Yeah, I'm starting to get tired."

Nate nodded, knowing that the small conversation with the Australian had put her off. "I'll go let them know."

"Thanks, Nate."

Nate smiled before getting up and walking towards Stephanie and Jess. "Hey, we're heading out."

"Ah, come on, the night's young."

"The night's morning, Jess," Nate laughed. "We'll grab a cab."

"We'll see you guys tomorrow then," Stephanie said kissing his cheek goodbye, then going off to Rory to say bye.

"She okay?" Jess asked.

"Little put off, but fine," Nate laughed. "We're not used to this 'all night partying' thing."

"Amateurs," Jess muttered. Nate waved goodbye as he went back to Rory.

"See you tomorrow, Steph," Rory said as she followed Nate out. They squeezed against people before finally making it out. Rory took a deep breathe of the fresh night air, carrying her jacket on her arm, still hot from dancing.

Nate looked over at her. Rory was a classic beauty, long wavy auburn hair that borders on red when it hit the light just right, alabaster skin with a tint of red in her cheeks that turned red with any kind of embarrassment or anger. And legs that made men drool. Hell, he drooled whenever she wore her short pajama shorts that barely covered her ass around the dorm. Though he knew she did that just to torture him, he'd seen the impish smirk on her face.

The problem was the girl lived in her big sister's shadow. Serena Gilmore Hayden was the epitome of beauty. While Rory was a classic beauty, Serena was a different level of beauty altogether. Rory had lived all her life hearing that she would never compare to her sister, that she'd never be as beautiful as Serena.

It was the reason taking compliment was hard for her. It wasn't that she was modest, even though she was. It was that she was so unused to getting them that she didn't know how to react when she received them. It was the reason she wore the clothes she wore. She knew how to dress up and look sexy, hell, she knew how to act it as well. But when it came to the real her, she went inside herself, hiding behind the ugly large-rimmed glasses and the stupid Ugg boots over baggy pants and large shirts.

He understood comfort, but Rory took it to another level. Hailing a cab, they got in. Rory rattled off the directions and smiled over at him.

"Good time?"

Nate nodded. "Keep me talking for a few days at least."

"Good, 'cause that's the last time I'm going out for a while."

Nate laughed. "I know it. What are your plans for tomorrow?"

Rory shrugged. "I need some background info on the club. So I may go and visit it during day hours, see if I can catch the owner, maybe get some information from him."

"Are you planning on telling him just what scathing remarks you plan on putting in this article?"

"Of course..." Rory looked at him. "Not, I'm not an idiot, Nate. I tell him just what I plan on putting, I get the boot out the door."

"If you can get to the door."

Rory shrugged. "You just have to play the right cards with the right people. Lucky for me, I have the cards and the people."

The cab stopped in front of their dorms and Rory got out as Nate paid. They stumbled slightly, the full affects of the alcohol they consumed taking over.

"You, Miss Hayden, are evil."

Rory winced at the name and gripped Nate's arm as he dug out his keys. "What if I told you I was thinking seriously about changing my last name?"

"To Gilmore?" Nate asked confused.

"No, no, my entire last name, drop the Hayden and the Gilmore, and go by something else."

"Like?"

"I don't know..." She frowned. "I'll think of something."

"You're serious?" He asked opening the door and letting her in. She nodded, throwing her jacket on the couch and going to her room. He closed the door before following her.

"Dead serious," she said sitting on her bed and taking off her shoes, before lying down and getting comfortable over the covers. "Why should I keep a name that means nothing to me?"

Nate leaned against the doorjamb and sighed as he heard her breathing even out and her fall asleep. Going over he tucked her in and kissed the top of her head.

"Night, Ror, sleep well." Patting her head he walked into his own room, wondering if this time she'd actually remember what she said.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Biting her lip, she looked at the beefed up bodyguard across the street. She noticed him playing with his wedding band and looking both ways down the sidewalk every once in a while, never stopping from twisting the band.

The way she saw it, she could play it two ways to get in. Looking both ways, she jogged across the street and put her plan into action.

"Hello," she greeted, causing the man to turn to her. "My name's Rory Hayden." The man gave a curt nod. "I'm looking for..." She read the name off the small notepad in her hand. "Tristan DuGray."

"In there," the man said toughly.

"Oh well, thanks. I'll go right in." She started in, only for the man to grab her arm and twirl her around.

"No can do, Miss Hayden was it?"

"Yes, Hayden," she nodded.

"No one's allowed in before working hours. That's why I'm here, to keep you girls out and not in there, bugging Mr. DuGray."

She looked at the band he was still twirling and bit her lip. Let's hope her plan worked. "Are you married, sir?"

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Married?" If his eyes shone, meant he loved his wife, his eyes dulled, he couldn't stand the woman, giving her the opening she needed, just depending on his reaction. "It's just..." She forced a blush. "I see you twirling that band around your finger, and I can't help to figure out what lucky woman has you as a husband."

She watched as the man's face split into a grin and his eyes shone in pride. "My Sue is an amazing woman. If anything, I'm lucky to have her."

"Oh, what a nice man you are," she said taking her opening.

Had his eyes dulled, she would have let her hair fall around her shoulders and taken off her glasses, rubbing his bicep a few times to get him to bend. But seeing as he loved his wife dearly, she took the other route. Get him talking about something he loved, and slip into the club while he took out the photos.

"Any kids... I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Bo," he said. "And yep, got a little boy in kindergarten, expecting the second. Here, I have a picture."

Rory took her cue, seeing him turn to reach into his wallet and slipped away and into the doors of the club, only to find it utterly empty.

"Great," she muttered. "All that work and nothing." She sat on one of the barstools and waited. Someone was bound to come out sooner or later.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Tristan poked his head out of his office. "Hey Finn, mind coming in here a minute?"

"Sure thing, boss," Finn said putting some of the martini glasses away carefully before going around the bar and into Tristan's office. "What's up?"

Tristan sat at his desk. It was hot outside and he wasn't wasting money on the air condition. So he chose a pair of baggy pants and left his wife beater on, a style Finn had soon followed, only his wife beater was blue, instead of white like the one Tristan donned.

"You know that girl we were watching on the floor last night? Before I went up?"

"Stephanie's friend," Finn said nodding taking the chair by the door, flipping it and straddling it, resting his forearms on the back of the chair. "What about her?"

"Name's Lorelai Gilmore. Mind finding some things on her?"

"Like?" Finn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Like? Job, residence... shit like that?"

"So a background check?" Finn asked.

"Pretty much," Tristan nodded. "Do you mind or should I get Colin to do it?"

"Seeing as we never know when the man is going to show up, I'll do it. I've got people."

"Course you do," Tristan laughed. "You need help out there?"

"Wouldn't mind the company," Finn nodded standing up. Tristan grabbed his laptop and followed Finn out, only to run into his back.

"Just who are you?" Finn asked. Tristan turned and saw a girl sitting at the counter. She was about to answer just as Bo came in.

"Sorry, boss, girl got right past me."

"No, I didn't," she corrected. "You got distracted, Bo, I just came right in."

Bo looked mildly annoyed and Tristan smirked. "Was it the wife, Bo?"

"My Sue is always on my mind," Bo said sheepishly.

"She's alright," Tristan said, nodding towards the girl. "If she's not welcome, I won't hesitate to kick her out."

"You need help, just let me know. Have a feeling this one won't go easily."

"And your feeling is dead on, Bo," she said as Bo sent her a glare and walked back out. The girl stood and walked over to them.

"My name is Rory Hayden," she said. "I'm writing an article on your club. I came last night."

Tristan raised an eyebrow and shot a glance to Finn who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Though he wasn't a person that tended to look at what a person wore and judge them for it, he did know that if someone, like say Rory Hayden, came to his club dressed the way she was, they wouldn't have let her in.

She was in baggy pants and a long male shirt with the figure of Optimus Prime from Transformers at the center of it. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and from the looks of it, she had highlighters and pens stuck into it. But the most off-putting thing were the big round glasses.

She saw them staring and sighed. "I came more club-worthy, of course." She looked closely at both of them. Being a reporter, she was good with faces. The tanned one... she frowned. He'd been the one to pay her the compliment before she'd left. And the blonde one... she looked at him carefully, he'd been at the bar. She'd bumped into him, at her and Nate's last round to the bar.

"Nice shirt," Finn said.

She sighed. "Yeah, laundry day. Had to grab the first shirt I found. Happened to be my friend's Optimus Prime shirt. Though I have nothing against Optimus Prime, just Transformers isn't the route I'd usually go. I'm more of a Looney Tunes girl or Hello Kitty." She winced. "And I'm rambling. Look, I don't mean to take up your time, I just need to ask Mr. DuGray a few questions for some background information on the club. Then I'll be out of your hair."

"An article?" Tristan asked. "What type of article?"

She smiled and sat down at the bar. "Okay, so not so much an article, but more of a review."

Tristan nodded. "What do you need background information for? It's just a review." He watched as annoyance flashed through her eyes at the comment.

"I like to start my reviews with a bit of background on whatever I'm reviewing. This time it just so happens to be this club."

Tristan looked over at Finn who shrugged. "Your call, boss."

"It's four questions, not even that," she said.

Tristan sighed and sat next to her at the bar, putting his laptop down on the counter. "All right, no publicity is bad publicity after all. I'll bite. I'm Tristan DuGray, I'm the owner."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. DuGray," she said smiling as she shook his outstretched hand and grabbed a notebook from her bag. She amused herself with the fact that he still didn't recognize her. Of course had she been wearing her glasses instead of her contacts the night before, he would have pinpointed her. Her glasses were unmistakable. She grabbed a pen and turned to a fresh page.

"So first I want to say I love the name of the club."

"Thank you."

"I'm a huge Greek and Roman culture fan, so seeing the name really got my attention."

Tristan nodded as he watched Finn withhold a laugh. Of course this girl would love the Roman and Greek life, along with its stories. Shes was the epitome of a geek.

"And I know I'm a geek, you can laugh," Rory said. "My friends do."

"Not laughing, though Finn might need to go outside for a minute."

"I'm fine," Finn smirked, leaning against the counter to listen to the conversation.

"So my first question would have to be how you came up with the name?"

Tristan nodded. "Uh, I guess, like you, I'm just a big Greek and Roman culture fan. It always held my interest when I was young, so when my friends and I talked about opening a club, that was one of the names we came up with. Because I'd always liked the story of Eros and Psyche."

"Why?"

Tristan shrugged. "My sister's a hopeless romantic, I guess, said that if someone would go through some bitch goddess trails like that, just to get her man, then that must be true love. Guess her words just stuck."

Rory frowned. "If I remember my myths correctly, with every task Psyche was given, she would contemplate suicide. Drowning herself with the task of getting the golden fleece, and flinging herself off cliff when she couldn't get the water from the River Styx. Had it not been for people taking pity on her, Psyche probably would have killed herself before returning to her husband."

Finn smirked. "You do know our myths."

"I should. It's my Major," Rory said.

Tristan sighed. "I just said my sister's words stuck. I found Psyche to be annoying and whiny, but I liked the way my sister phrased it."

Rory nodded, hiding her smile when his tone became defensive. She could definitely use that to her advantage.

"All right. You have a house band, correct?"

Tristan nodded, "Hep Alien, based here in San Diego."

"Yet you still bring in other bands, some would say famous. Why?"

Tristan shrugged. "Why shouldn't I? Bringing in, say, Cold War Kids brings in certain clientèle. They're not all that well known as of yet, so it also helps them create fanbase here. It's a win-win for both of us."

"So money?"

"You're twisting my words," Tristan said, knowing where she was going with the line of questioning. "While having money is good, seeing as I need to fix my back stairs, along with my speakers, getting bands isn't for the money. If anything, I lose more money paying for them to play here than I gain from the fans coming to see them and trust me, we don't charge cheap for the tickets when we have bands come and play."

Rory nodded. "And do you have any comments on 4-2-9 or Logan Huntzberger in general?"

Tristan smirked, "Nothing that would make me look good in the review."

Rory nodded. "One more question and I'm done."

"Shoot," Tristan nodded.

"How exactly did you became a club owner? From my research it said you were studying History at SDSU and straying away from any business classes."

Tristan looked at her amazed. "You looked me up?"

"Amazing what a person can find on Google."

"Yeah, my Major was History, but I've always had an interest in clubs, so when I inherited this place from my dad after he died, I just saw the club in my head and put my money and time and effort into this. If you had done your research a bit better, you would have known that I…"

"Took night classes to get your Business Major, yeah, know that too," she smiled, closed her notebook and put it in her bag. "Bo's a nice guy, but he sucks as a security guard. Thanks for the information."

Before Tristan could get a word out, she flounced off, leaving Finn cackling. "I liked her."

"Yeah," Tristan muttered opening his laptop. A few minutes later the door burst open and a frazzled looking Colin walked in.

Colin was the calm one of the group. Tristan was known for his temper, Finn for his theatrics while Colin was the one that usually kept his head. But walking in the six feet man looked shaken. His hair that was usually in neat order looked like he'd been running his fingers through it all day and his clothes, usually so perfectly ironed, were wrinkled.

"Sleep in a dumpster there, Colin?" Finn teased.

"Who was the girl that just walked out?" Colin asked looking at the doors behind him before walking to the bar slowly.

"Rory Hayden. She's a reporter, wanted some info."

"Hayden?" Colin asked surprised, looking back at the doors.

"Yeah, Hayden. What's up?" Tristan asked looking at his friend. "You've been gone for a while."

"Yeah, had some business. I've got some bad news, Tristan."

Tristan looked at Colin. "What?"

"Logan, he's, uh…"

"Please tell me dead," Tristan muttered.

"Worse."

Tristan looked up. "What?"

"He's got Cold War Kids to play next Friday night."

Tristan glared before going into a cursing frenzy and slamming into his office. Damn Logan Huntzberger.

Colin looked at Finn. "He's going to be sore all week, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, he's going to be on a mean streak for days," Finn muttered preparing himself for a week of a revengeful Tristan.

Three blocks away, another blonde haired man was smiling over the phone as he finalized next week's band. He was on Lady Luck's good side and he planned on staying there.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_


	3. Bike Scene

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I wanna hate you so bad_

_But I Can't(but i can't) Stop this_

_Anymore then you can_

_-Bike Scene- Taking Back Sunday_

--------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Part 3: Bike Scene**_

_**Cupid's Psyche? Crash and Burn on My Scale**_

_**By Rory Hayden**_

_About a week ago, I was dragged to a club by the name of 'Cupid's Psyche' by my friends. Though I didn't protest too much, seeing as I was to write this review for it either way, I found it highly amusing that the most talked about club, the club that everyone rants and raves about, fell quite short on my standards. _

_Now you may be saying, 'Rory Hayden, who the hell are you to be rating a club? Girl, you rarely leave the library's sanctuary.' Believe it or not, dear readers, I do know how to have a good time. And good time I did not have at Cupid's Psyche._

_The club was started in 2004 by fellow Alum Tristan DuGray, along with his two friends Finnegan Morgan and Colin McCrea. DuGray, though majoring in History, took night classes, finishing up his business degree and opening Cupid's Psyche soon after. The club is known for their in-house band Hep Alien, great sound and great drinks. Also for some of the famous bands that have visited from time to time. Bands include Scissor Sisters, Shout Out Louds, Rooney ,and such Latin groups such as Zoe and Division Minuscula, all of which have gotten great reviews and sky-rocketed each group._

_Though this is wonderful for Cupid's Psyche, it still does not sway my opinion of the club when I went. The decor is close to that of hanging out in a friend's garage, and the sound system was weak. At all the clubs I've gone to, I had to yell in order to at least hear myself talk over the music, yet at Cupid's Psyche I could hear my friends muttering, and this was on the dance floor, right next to the speakers._

_The fact, that when I asked some people who were drinking, and found most of them underage, yet on their second drink, has got me worried, and I witnessed three brawls in the span of ten minutes, one of which ended with one man getting a broken nose, and blood staying on the dance floor for more than half an hour._

_The ceiling is cracking, the bathrooms are disgusting, and none of the stairs are structurally sound. _

_Though Tristan DuGray may be a pretty face, I find that that's all he is. He has no real idea how to run his business, nor how to relate with clientèle. I say that Mr. DuGray should find himself a nice blonde, marry and leave the clubbing business behind. I think it'd be best for all. _

_Now for a real club, I'd go to 4-2-9, owned by Logan..._

Tristan crumpled the paper and glared at Finn who'd given it to him. Paris bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Still like her?" Tristan spat out.

"She has spunk," Finn laughed causing Tristan's eyes to narrow even more if possible.

"Do you even realize what this could do? SDSU holds some of our main clientèle. The fact that they read this and..." Tristan trailed off, grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on.

"Tristan, where are you going?" Paris asked.

"SDSU." Tristan said grabbing the paper.

"Why?" Finn asked.

"To talk to one Rory fucking Hayden, give her a piece of my mind."

Finn and Paris watched him storm out, almost trampling Colin, before bursting out into laughter.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Hey Hayden, you've got a visitor!"

Rory came into the main newsroom frowning. Nate wasn't due to pick her up for another half an hour from their Mythology Class. "A visitor, for me?"

"He looks a bit irate too, red in the face, steam coming from his ears. If I guess right, I'd think he was the last person you verbally whipped," Larry laughed readjusting the folders in his hands, then handing two to Rory.

Rory smirked. "Tristan DuGray?"

"That's the one." He pointed to the folders that were now in her hands. "Your next assignment. Think you can handle it?"

"Anything, boss," Rory said, walking towards her desk. She sat down and when she looked back up, she saw Tristan DuGray standing over her desk, mad as hell. Leaning back in her chair she smiled. Oh, this was going to be amusing.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Tristan growled out. She watched as a few people lingered at their desks, while others cleared the room.

"Rory Hayden," Rory answered smartly.

He slammed the paper on the desk and leaned in. "You're a liar."

"Liar? Jeez, that's harsh," Rory said, not even wincing at the slam he'd made. "I don't think I've ever told a lie in my life... No, wait..." She readjusted her glasses. "There was that one time I broke the lamp in my father's study. And I blamed my sister... Then again she had flushed my Barbie down the toilet, I had to get back somehow."

"Cupid's Psyche is the best there is. You have no right writing the bullshit you did. I want a retraction."

"I'm sorry?"

"That's right, a retraction."

Rory glared. "I don't retract my reviews. Everything I wrote in that piece is true."

He grabbed the paper and opened it. "'The ceiling is cracking, the bathrooms are disgusting, and none of the stairs are structurally sound,'" he read. "One, the ceiling has been fixed, way before you got there. Made damn sure of it when it rained two years ago and half our roof collapsed. The bathrooms are cleaned every thirty minutes, emptied and replaced. As for the stairs..." he rolled his eyes. "So they wobble, doesn't mean they're structurally unsound."

"One," she mimicked, "I look up, all I see is cracked paint and water spots. Get a better roofer. Two, when I went in there, there was toilet paper on the floor, dirty tampons outside of the small trashcan, and at least four clogged toilets. There are only six stalls, meaning what, Mr. DuGray? Yes, that's right, there was a line. And the stairs are a safety hazard."

Rory smiled having seen him wince when she'd mention the dirty tampons. As disgusting as it was to hear about it, it was even worse to have to see it. It was the single main thing that irked her about certain places, and about girls in general.

Tristan glared. "You came on a bad night."

"No, I came on _a_ night. Just because your club wasn't up to par that night doesn't mean it isn't true. You were serving minors, your security sucks, and your club is bad. Get over it."

"Come back tonight," Tristan said. "Write the retraction."

"If I remember correctly, Mr. DuGray, you told me you didn't run your club for money."

"I don't," he gritted out.

"Then why is it you want me to write this retraction so badly?" She leaned back in her chair and smirked at him. "I think it's because you're afraid."

"Afraid?" Tristan asked bewildered. "What would I be afraid of?"

"Afraid and pissed," she laughed. "Afraid that with this review you've lost a lot of your potential clientèle for your club, and pissed because it wasn't a real reporter that managed to do it but a snot nosed college geek who probably couldn't get in your club if you had any say about it." She laughed. "And I have to say I'm finding it amusing that you're begging a college sophomore for a retraction on a piece that will barely damage your clientèle. I mean it was you, after all, that said no publicity was bad publicity."

"You misled me, you made me assume that you were writing a good review."

"I never gave any impression at all. I came, asked four questions, talked a bit, then left. I never said if I liked your club, or if I hated it. I think the only thing I said about loving was the name of the club. I never said anything about your club in particular." She looked over his shoulder to see Nate tapping his watch and gesturing they had to go. "Now if you're done yelling at me, I have to get to my Mythology Class."

Tristan glared at the girl as she started gathering her stuff. "Come back tonight."

"I'm a college student, Mr. DuGray. I have classes to study for, papers to write and more clubs to review. You're not the only one who seems to be busy."

Tristan glared. "Come back tonight and drinks are on the house."

Rory laughed. "I'm twenty, Mr. DuGray. Those minors you were letting in and serving? I'm one of them." She glared at Nate who was tapping his watch and gesturing. "Calm down! I'm almost ready! Five fricking minutes!"

"Hurry up!" Nate said.

Rory shook her head, then turned back to Tristan. "I'm not writing a retraction, so just forget it." She shouldered her book bag and started out. Biting her lip she couldn't help one final dig. "You know, it's amazing."

"What is?" Tristan asked.

"The fact that you got steamed over my review. I have to say Mr. Huntzberger handled my review with much more finesse than you did." She smirked and left grabbing Nate's hand as he pulled her out of the office. Tristan frowned before following her.

"Huntzberger, you reviewed Huntzerger's club?" Tristan asked.

Rory nodded looking at him.

Nate laughed. "Wasn't that when Steph jumped on the bar and started dancing? Jess practically had to pull her down?"

Rory laughed. "No, babe, that was back in New York. It was that day we took you to the Statue of Liberty."

"Right, right," Nate nodded.

Rory looked back at Tristan who seemed annoyed. "I reviewed his club about three..." She looked at Nate. "Maybe four months ago." She stopped walking and turned to him. "I believe I also had some complaints that I had voiced in my article."

"V, we're going to be late," Nate said looking at his watch.

"Two minutes isn't going to kill us, Nate." She turned back. "Mr. Huntzberger called me up the next day, thanked me for my review, and that he'd love it if I came back once he got everything fix. And I did."

"You wrote a retraction?" Tristan asked.

Rory shook her head. "No." She turned to Nate. "I think I added a bit of a blurb to one of my other reviews, right?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah, short little two sentence thing."

"I think I said that though I still had my complaints about his club, he had improved in many aspects. But I still had problems with it." She looked at Tristan. "You however aren't getting a retraction or a blurb. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to class."

"Venus," Nate said pulling her arm.

"Good luck with everything, Mr. DuGray, I really hope you find that blonde." She laughed before grabbing Nate's hand again and letting him lead her to her class.

Tristan glared. Just who the hell did Rory Hayden think she was. Turning on his heel and walking to his car, he fumed. He had another job for Finn.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"No, love, you got to push up with the thumb to flick. All you're doing is moving your wrist." Finn laughed as Paris repositioned the quarter on her thumb and eyed the glass on the counter. Aiming she flicked her thumb up only to have the quarter fall to the ground.

"You're throwing your wrist," Colin muttered looking at them. He'd been sitting at the bar, watching Finn train Paris in the art of coin tossing for the past hour, waiting for Tristan to return.

"Shut up, Colin," Paris muttered, sick of the brunette. She focused on the glass as she started to flick her thumb up, when the door burst open, she lost her concentration, flicked the thumb up, only to have the quarter fling itself onto her forehead.

"That was close, love, but it goes the other way," Finn laughed.

"Thanks," she muttered picking the quarter up.

"Get me all the information you can on Rory Hayden," Tristan demanded as he walked in with determination.

"What?" Finn asked.

"Everything. I want school records, family, birth place, everything," Tristan ordered.

Finn nodded. "And this is in addition to the information on Lorelai Gilmore?"

"Yeah," Tristan nodded.

Finn sighed. "All right, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. Colin, follow me," Tristan ordered walking towards his office.

"Gee, am I glad the boss is in a better mood," Colin muttered following Tristan.

Finn laughed grabbing his jacket and stuffing his keys into his jeans pockets. "Will you be all right restocking and doing inventory, love?"

"I have worked at a bar before, Finn, I know what I'm doing."

"All right, I'll be back in a few hours."

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Finn walked into the SDSU administration office and smiled at the blonde receptionist that manned the desk.

"Karen, love, how are you this fine, fine day?"

"Hello Finn," she smiled, blushing lightly from his intense gaze. "What are you doing here?

"I need information on someone." He leaned against the tall counter and bent down so he had his arms crossed over on the counter and his chin rested on his hands. "Wondering if maybe you could help?"

Karen giggled and turned to her computer, clicking a few keys before nodding. "All right, what do you need?"

"Oh, Karen, you spoil me," Finn said keeping his position. "I need information on one Rory Hayden."

Karen looked up at him. "Rory? What do you need information on Rory for?"

"You know her?" Finn asked straightening.

Karen nodded. "Sure, covers for me sometimes. Maybe once a week." She typed in Rory's name and printed out the information. "Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden, twenty, double Major and Minor." She handed the information to Finn.

Finn frowned. "Gilmore?"

"Uh huh, she's hyphenated. Her parents live up in Hartford, Connecticut."

Finn frowned as he stood up. "Thanks, Karen, I owe you."

Karen smiled. "Pay me back with dinner tomorrow night."

Finn smirked looking up at the blonde. "Dye your hair red and I'll consider."

Karen laughed. "Then I'd like my payment in the form of a fifty, please."

Finn laughed taking out his wallet and getting out the fifty dollars he usually paid Karen before leaving. He looked over the papers walking down the well memorized halls of San Diego State.

Rory Gilmore-Hayden was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to her parents Lorelai Gilmore and Christopher Hayden. Valedictorian at Chilton, a fucking 4.5 GPA. Jeez, this chick was smart, he thought.

He hadn't even neared a 4.0, let alone a 4.5 and thought Tristan was smart, he'd been a 3.5 back in college. Though GPA standards had changed during the years. He looked for her residence and found a dorm listed. Frowning he stared at the dorm numbers. When he'd been here, not that long ago, that had been a boys' dormitory. Had things really changed that much since he and Tristan had graduated five years ago?

Walking towards the dorm he saw guys laughing, coming out of some of the rooms, some with backpacks on their backs, others with books, others empty-handed.

"Hey, did you see Rory the other night?" One guy asked as they passed Finn.

"Yeah, looking hot. They went out to that club downtown."

"Did not know the girl had assets like that," the first guy said putting his hands in front of his chest.

The second guy slapped the head of the other. "She's like my sister, dude, stop."

"Yeah. Well, when she dresses like that, it makes you have some unbrotherly feelings if you catch my drift."

"I think the entire campus caught your drift, idiot."

Finn frowned. Were they talking about the same Rory Hayden that had interviewed Tristan? Still frowning, he made his way to the dorm, where she supposedly lived. Knocking on the door, he continued watching to see if any girls came out. But none did, only males.

"Yeah?"

Finn looked back to the door to see it open and a guy staring at him, wiping paint off his hands.

"Oh, hello."

"Hi," he said with a nod. "Can I help you?"

"Right, I was looking for Lorelai Gilmore," Finn said. If his guess was correct, Lorelai Gilmore and Rory Hayden were one and the same, meaning Tristan had a crush on the girl that had badmouthed his club as well as him, which had Finn quite amused.

"Lorelai Gilmore?" He asked stuffing the rag in his back pocket and scratching the back of his neck. "You with administration?"

"Um..." Finn frowned. "No, I graduated a few years ago, just looking for Lorelai Gilmore."

The guy sighed before nodding "Yeah, just a sec. Come on in."

"Thanks," Finn said walking in and closing the door.

The guy frowned at him. "You sure you're not with administration?"

"I'm sure," Finn laughed.

"Hmm." He knocked on the door. "Ror, someone's here looking for Lorelai Gilmore."

"Then what the hell are they doing here?" A female voice said as she opened the door and stepped out. She gave a small laugh at her joke, snorting and covering her mouth as she looked at Nate who smirked and moved his head a bit gesturing to the other person

She looked at Finn, her eyes widening. "Hey look, if you're here to yell at me about the review about the club, I'm going to get Nate to kick your ass."

"Oh no, no," Finn said quickly putting his hands up in defense. "I found your review hilarious. Cupid's Psyche is a young club. A big club, but young. It still needs some improvement, even I can attest to that."

"Oh," she frowned. "Then why are you looking for me?"

"You're Lorelai Gilmore?" He looked at her. Once again he was surprised to see her, not in the tight outfit she'd been wearing at the club, but in baggy pajama bottoms and a loose Pirates of the Caribbean tank top. Her hair was in a messy bun but her eyes were void of glasses. She was somewhat squinting to look at him, but he'd recognize those eyes.

She winced. "I rarely go by that name, but yeah, people know me by Lorelai Gilmore. I go by Rory Hayden most of the time."

"My name is Finn. I bartend down at Cupid's as you obviously know, what with the article and all."

"Right, Rory, and you knew that."

Finn paused. "Did I... You were in the club last week, right?"

"Yeah." She answered slowly.

"Did we meet that night?" He asked making sure it really was her.

Rory nodded. "Yeah, you said that I was a good dancer."

Finn nodded. "You're Stephanie's friend."

Rory smiled and gave a nod. "Yeah, you know Steph?"

"Yes, I do," Finn nodded. "Look, I'd like to apologize for Tristan about earlier. He has a very bad temper. And you have to understand the Cupid's Psyche is his baby. So you insult his baby, you insult him."

"I _was_ insulting him though," Rory pointed out.

"Right. Well, just want to apologize on behalf of him for whatever he said."

"Nothing I haven't heard before. I'm pretty sure I heard heartless bitch being muttered."

Finn winced. "Right, well, sorry."

She laughed. "It's fine. Um, this is Nate. My roommate."

"Room- I didn't know SDSU had co-ed rooming."

"Uh... they don't," Nate said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "They messed up our rooming, but me and Ror got to talking while walking to the administration office to get it fixed, became friends, turned around and just let it stay that way. The guys here love her."

Rory blushed. "I'm their little sister."

Finn nodded remembering some of the comments the passing guys had made as he had waited outside. He thought about the information he had to take back to Tristan and smirked inwardly. Maybe he could put it off for a while. Smirking inwardly he looked back at Rory. "Right, look, I want to invite you back to the club."

Rory shook her head. "Like I told DuGray, I don't write retractions."

Finn laughed. "Not a retraction, love. It's an 'I'm sorry' from me. Come dance, hang out, free drinks."

"Rory's under age," Nate said, slapping his forehead abruptly as Rory hit his arm.

Finn laughed. "So you were one of the minors I was serving?"

Rory crossed her arms over her chest. "I turn 21 in two months, thank you."

"Then your friends will get free drinks, you'll get free soda."

"I don't go clubbing," Rory said. After seeing Finn's raised eyebrow she sighed. "Steph and Jess drag me to clubs, we leave at midnight per my request."

"She's a homebody," Nate said sitting down on the arm of the couch. "But we're there."

Finn smiled. "Really?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah."

"But-" Rory started.

"Just tell me when and I'll make sure we're there."

"But my once a month rule!" Rory said stomping her foot.

Finn ignored her. "Friday. Taking Back Sunday agreed to play at Cupid's, I'll send you guys four tickets. My treat."

"Thanks man," Nate smiled.

"See you later, love, can't wait to see who your next victim is," Finn said as he waved goodbye to Nate and left.

Once she heard the door close she turned to Nate and glared. "I have a rule!"

Nate sighed. "I know, which means I won't drag you to any parties or clubs for two months. But it's Taking-"

"I know." She sighed knowing Nate was a huge Taking Back Sunday fan. And had been sorely disappointed when she'd refused to go back to the club with him when he found out they were playing. And even more depressed when he found out the tickets had sold out in the first two hours.

"So you'll go?" He asked hopefully. "You know I would NEVER push you to do anything you didn't want to do."

"Bullshit you wouldn't," she muttered, knowing he'd persuade her to go to parties and do things she would never do without his push. "And yes, I'll go, but two months! You, Jess and Steph are off my back about going out for 2 months

Nate nodded eagerly before picking her up and hugging her. "Deal! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Rory laughed and hit his shoulders. "Let me go. If I'm going out on Friday, I have a lot of work to get done."

Nate did as he was told and watched Rory go to her room and close her door. He had a feeling Finn had ulterior motives for them going back to the club and smiled. He'd make sure Rory had fun if it was the last thing he did.

Picking up his paintbrush, he went back to his easels and began to paint again.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Finn walked back into the club to see Paris leaning against the counter, reading a book, and Colin and Tristan talking at the counter, hovering over a laptop. Tristan looked up and at a smirking Finn.

"Did you find anything?"

Finn frowned as he sat next to the guys. "Found anything?"

"On Rory Hayden."

"Oh right, yeah," Finn nodded. "The problem's taken care of."

Colin frowned. "You didn't like... whack her, did you?"

Finn laughed. "No, just gave her a talking to, made her cry, the usual."

Tristan nodded giving a smile for the first time that day. The thought of the reporter crying made him a little bit better, even if he did hate seeing girls cry. "What about Lorelai Gilmore?"

Finn nodded. "Yep, found her too, and took care of that."

Tristan sat up. "What?"

"Yeah, turns out, craziest thing really," Finn said offhandedly, causing Paris to look up from her book and listen in. "Rory Hayden and Lorelai Gilmore are both students at SDSU, imagine that."

"Really?" Paris asked.

Finn turned to her. "Yeah, I went to get information on Rory and ended up getting information on Lorelai too. Crazy coincidence thing."

"And?" Tristan asked.

"And I invited her and her friends back to the club. She's coming on Friday. I promised four tickets for Taking Back Sunday."

"They're sold out, Finn," Colin pointed out.

"No," Tristan shook his head, knowing where Finn was heading out. "We've got twenty tickets on reserve for us to invite who we want. We do it every concert. We each get five."

"So she has three friends," Finn started. "That she just happens to want to invite. I'm going to send them to her later, I just needed the tickets."

Tristan nodded smiling. "Thanks, Finn."

"Hey, no problem. Just do me a favor and talk to her, okay? It took a lot of work to get her to come out."

"Why?" Tristan asked.

Finn shrugged. "She's a bit of a homebody... like you."

"Oh," Tristan stood up and took his laptop. "Well, thanks for arranging this, Finn. I'll get you the tickets in a few, Colin and I just have to finish up with these numbers. Colin?"

Colin sighed as he stood and followed Tristan. "Coming."

Paris watched the door to Tristan's office close before looking at Finn. She closed her book and stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "What are you leaving out?"

"What?"

"Something's up. Lorelai and Rory just happen to be on the same campus, you just happen to be able to find both of them on your trip there that lasted an hour. What's going on?"

"If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell Tristan."

Paris frowned but nodded. "Promise."

Finn looked at the door, before sitting up a bit in his seat and pulling out the papers from his back pocket and sliding them across the bar to Paris. Paris took the papers and unfolded them.

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden..." Paris trailed off. "Hayden... that's Rory's-"

"Lorelai and Rory are one and the same."

Paris's eyes widened. "Wait, wait." She looked down at the papers, then back up at Tristan. "You mean the woman Tristan's been jacking off to every night is the same girl that he just told off?"

Finn winced. "Yeah."

Paris's mouth dropped open. "You have to tell him."

"I don't have to tell him shit," Finn objected pulling the papers from her hands. "I'm having much more fun with me knowing more than Tristan."

Paris shook her head. "Think about it, Finn. You're bringing this girl to meet Tristan. Tristan thinks he's going to get the girl of his dreams only to get the girl that he's hating right now. Did you not see his smile when you told him you made her cry! You're setting this girl up for humiliation, Finn!"

Finn rolled his eyes. "If Tristan really likes this girl, it won't matter what she said about the club. He'll get over it."

"You apparently don't know Tristan," Paris said scooping up her book.

"I know Tristan," Finn said standing up angrily. "You know very well I wouldn't do a thing to hurt anyone intentionally. I have the situation under control, Paris."

Paris looked at him in shock, he never called her Paris. It was always Geller or love, or the occasional Kitten. Never Paris. "I didn't mean you didn't have the situation under control, Finn, I just think that you should give Tristan some fair warning about just who he's meeting," she said quietly.

Finn shook his head. "You don't trust my judgment."

"I have a feeling we're not talking about the Rory and Tristan thing anymore."

Finn sighed running a hand through his hair. "I have to go." He grabbed his jacket and left, leaving Paris watching him.

"What about your shift?" She muttered looking at the clock and seeing the club would open in an hour.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"You know," Nate began as Rory came out of her room on Friday evening in her short black knit Free People dress that had a low V-cut neck and crocheted with designs in the bust. It ended mid-high which then revealed her black tights and black Mary Jane heel boots. "When you dress up, you look really hot."

Rory rolled her eyes as she looked in her clutch. "Uh huh." She made sure she had the tickets, her cell phone and her keys, as well as some cash on her in case she left early. "I'm just telling you that I'm leaving without you. I know you, you're going to want to stay for the entire concert, and I'm not going to have the patience or the energy."

Nate groaned as he ushered her out the door, both of their jackets over his arm. "Rory, I'm not letting you grab a cab home by yourself."

"It'll be fine, Nate. Don't worry about it. I don't want to hinder your fun, just because I'm a party pooper."

"Damn right you are," Jess laughed as they reached his car.

"Or maybe I'll just take my own car?" She said standing in front of Jess's hunk of junk. "I mean I'm not drinking tonight, and I'm coming back by myself."

Nate sighed. "I'll go with you then."

Stephanie groaned. "So we waited for you, slow asses, just for you guys to take a different car?"

"I have the tickets, Steph", Rory told her, handing her two tickets so she and Jess could go in without waiting before walking a few steps away to her car, Nate following.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked, getting in the car and buckling up.

Rory nodded. "Fine, I just really didn't feel like going out today."

Nate rolled his eyes. "You never feel like going out."

Rory nodded in agreement as she backed out of the spot and started their way towards the club. Truth was she hadn't wanted to go out more tonight, because she was in a bad mood. She'd been getting ready, actually excited for going out with Nate, since he'd been pumped to see his favorite band.

But as she had been putting on her makeup, she'd gotten a phone call. It had been her sister. The talk had left her frustrated and so down on herself that she'd wanted to crawl back into bed and never leave, but then Nate had given her a ten minute warning and she'd had to finish getting ready. She didn't have the heart to disappoint her best friend because her self-confidence was down once again.

She parked three blocks away, much to Nate's distaste and got out of the car. Nate grabbed her hand a jump in his step as she locked the car and put the keys away, exchanging them for the tickets. They jumped to the front of the line, groans emitting from the people waiting in line.

Nate jumped up and down in excitement as he saw the stage was set up for Taking Back Sunday's arrival. The white backdrops which were three circles with lines crisscrossing to be the shape of rounded side of a mic, and the drawn amps behind it.

She walked him over to the bar and found an empty seat where she was planning on spending most of her night, Nate settling behind her, standing and waiting for the band.

"You've got about half an hour, mate," Finn teased coming over to them.

"Still psyched," Nate smiled.

"Rory," Finn nodded.

"Finn," she smiled weakly.

"A beer and coke," Nate said, not noticing Rory's somber mood.

Finn nodded as he grabbed the beer, popped it open handing it to Nate, then served Rory a tall glass of coke. "Thanks," Rory said scouring through her purse for a bill.

"It's on Tristan tonight, love."

"Tristan? DuGray, the owner?" Rory asked. "He's paying for my drinks?"

Finn nodded before taking the order of the guy next to her.

"Wanna go upstairs?" Nate asked.

"Nah, I think I'm going to stay here."

Nate frowned as he looked at her. "You sure?"

"I'm sure, sweetie," she smiled. "You go up with Steph and Jess, I'm just in an alone mood tonight."

Nate nodded kissing her cheek. "Find me when the band comes on stage. I wanna dance with you."

Rory nodded. "Sure." She watched Nate leave, to go upstairs where she knew Jess and Stephanie were. Turning in her seat, she fiddled with her straw, pushing ice down with the end.

"You all right, love?"

She looked up and saw Finn leaning in front of her as the woman bartender took over. "Uh... Yeah... No... just not in a people mood tonight," she sighed.

"Sorry to hear that."

She shrugged. "Not your fault, is it?" She felt her purse vibrate in her lap and fumbled with it before taking out her cell and looking at the caller ID display. Giving a tired sigh, she ignored the call from her mother and threw the phone back in her purse.

"Really not in a people mood." She looked at the stage, then at her watch. She'd stay half an hour, dance with Nate once, then go home and crawl into bed, like she wanted.

Finn watched the somber girl before letting Paris know he was going upstairs. He lifted the bar's partition, leaving the back of the bar and going to Tristan's office. He noticed the apartment door opened. Taking the open door as an invitation, he went up and found Tristan leaning against his kitchen counter, his pants and shoes on, but shirtless. The white shirt was over the counter chair along with the tie.

"No, Mars, I get it, really. I have to be at the tux shop tomorrow at noon, writing it down now. Of course I am, why wouldn't I write it down?" He looked at Finn pleadingly. Finn scrounged around for a pen and paper, writing the note down and posting it on the refrigerator. "It's on the fridge, Mars, that way I'll see it in the morning when I wake up. Promise. Okay... I love you too, sis. Bye." He hung up the phone and grabbed his shirt.

"She's down there, mate."

"My sister?" Tristan asked buttoning the shirt before tucking it in.

"Lorelai, idiot," Finn laughed feeling a bit of guilt. He could tell Rory wasn't in the mood to get in a fight with Tristan, which he knew would ensue if they got together. But he also knew that Tristan needed to know that the girl he happened to like was also the girl he happened to hate.

"She looking hot?"

Finn nodded. "Short little dress. Would look better if she weren't covering those legs though."

Tristan frowned as he followed Finn downstairs, starting to do up his tie. "Covering her legs?"

"Black tights. You better hurry, man, it doesn't look like she's staying long. She keeps looking at her watch."

Tristan nodded. "Let me just make sure Taking Back Sunday are ready. I'll introduce them, then make my way over to her. Where is she?"

They left the office and Finn pointed her out at the end of the bar, working on her second coke. "There."

Tristan nodded. She was looking good. Separating from Finn, he went backstage where Adam Lazzara, the lead singer, and Fred Mascherino, the guitarist and back up singer, were talking.

"Tristan, man," Adam said as they shook hands. "Thanks for having us."

"No, thank _you_ for coming," Tristan laughed. "Are you guys ready?"

"Pumped," Fred nodded.

"Great, I'll introduce you and we'll get started."

Adam nodded in agreement as Tristan went onto the stage, turned on the mike, which had a long cord, per Adam's request, and tapped it. "Welcome all to Cupid's Psyche. As you know tonight we've got a special guest for you all. One of my favorite bands and I know all of you love them. Taking Back Sunday!"

He got off stage just as Adam came on, along with the rest of the band and they started the song "Bike Scene".

_I'll leave the lights down low_

_so she knows I mean business_

_and maybe we could talk this over_

_cause I could be your best bet_

_Let alone your worst ex_

_And let alone your worst_

Happy with the crowd they attracted, he moved to the side of the crowd watching them enjoy themselves, glad he was able to get them to agree to play. It had been a lifesaver. He saw Finn motion to Lorelai discreetly and wink. Tristan took a deep breath before squeezing his way over to her. Luckily there was a free space next to her. Taking the seat he turned and looked at her. Her long brown was hair covering her face.

"Lorelai?" He asked.

She moved her hair and frowned, her eyes widening a bit. "Mr. DuGray."

_I wanna hate you so bad_

_But I can't (but I can't) stop this_

_Anymore then you can_

"Tristan, please," he said putting a smile on his face.

She frowned. "You called me Lorelai."

"That is your name, is it not? Lorelai Gilmore?"

She looked at him, then at Finn then back at him before sighing. "Or Rory Hayden."

_So honestly, how could you say those things_

_when you know they don't mean anything_

_And you know very well_

_that I can't keep my hands to myself_

_hands to myself_

_I wanna hate you so bad_

_But I can't(but I can't) stop this_

_Anymore then you can_

_This is all wrong and it shows_

_There's certain things I promised not to let you know, _

_(I've got a silly way of keepin you up on the edge of my seat,_

_I've got a silly way of keeping you up on the...)_

_not to let you know_

_I never let you, never let you, never..._

_You got this silly way_

_of keeping me on the edge of my seat_

_But you're only counting the clock against the train_

_And I'm miserable, oh_

_(I've got a silly way of keepin you up on the edge of my seat,_

_I've got a silly way of keepin you up on the...)_

_And you're just getting started_

_I'm miserable, oh_

_And you're just getting started_

_You've got me right where you want me_

_(lets never talk) lets never talk, lets never, _

_Lets never talk about this again because_

_I didn't want it to mean that much to me_

_I didn't want it to mean that much to me_

_I didn't want it to mean that much to me_

_I didn't want it to mean that much to me_

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_


	4. Lucifer's Angel

-------------------------------------------

_Behind those eyes lies the truth and grief_

_Behind those beautiful smiles I've seen tragedy_

_The flawless skin hides the secrets within_

_Silent forces that secretly ignite your sins_

_-The Rasmus_

-------------------------------------------

_**Part 4: Lucifer's Angel**_

"You called me Lorelai."

"That is your name, is it not? Lorelai Gilmore?"

She looked at him, looked at Finn, then back at him before sighing. "Or Rory Hayden."

Tristan's eyes widened before looking at Finn who was smirking and leaning against the counter. He looked back at her, looked her over and stared at her in shock. "You- You're Rory Hayden?" He choked out.

She looked over at Finn who was smirking and sighed pushing her soda out of the way. "You know what, I've had a tough night, and I don't appreciate being made fun of. I get enough of that from my sister," she muttered putting a bill down on the counter."I'm going to leave and you and your buddy can laugh at my stupidity, how about it?"

Tristan watched her get up and squeeze her way through the crowd, just as the opening chords of "Great Romances Of The 20th Century" opened up. Getting up he stalked over to Finn, glaring at him. "She's Rory fucking Hayden."

"Yes, she is," Finn nodded leaning close to hear Tristan over the music.

"You knew!"

"Course I knew," Finn rolled his eyes. "And if you really like the girl, then you'd go after her."

Tristan glared and pushed against the bar, making his way out of the club, hating Finn for doing this to him. The whole illusion of Lorelai Gilmore had shattered in front of his eyes. And the girl he'd been having wet dreams about just also happened to be the girl he'd told off early in the week.

Reaching the outside of the club, he looked both ways before seeing her figure walking away. Jogging over to her, he caught up with her and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

She was about to scream when she saw who it was and stopped looking at him. "What do you want? To laugh at me some more?"

"I wasn't laughing," Tristan said removing his hand and standing in front of her. "I'm just in..."

"Look, I don't usually dress this way," she said crossing her arms over her chest, finding her dress a bit too short, and her cleavage all of a sudden showing too much. "I'm most comfortable in pants and long shirts, but..." She shook her head. "You know what, I don't have to explain myself to you." She started waking away.

"Lorelai..." He trailed off as she whirled around, tears glittering in her blue eyes.

"Do _not_ call me Lorelai," she said poking her finger to his chest. "My name is _Rory_."

She whirled away and walked the rest of the way to her car, frustrated, angry and depressed. Home, she wanted to go home. Leaning against her car she rubbed her eyes furiously. The saddest part was that she considered her dorm with Nate home.

"Look, I'm sorry."

She looked up, surprised to see Tristan standing in front of her, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and running a hand through his hair. "Your friend gave me that name, and I've been thinking of you as Lorelai this entire time. It's going to take me some time to get used to Rory."

She rolled her eyes. "Who gave you Lorelai?"

"Uh, the blonde girl..."

"Stephanie," Rory whispered shaking her head. "I don't go by Lorelai. My mother's name is Lorelai, so... I'm Rory, avoids confusion you know."

Tristan nodded. "Right." He hesitated before placing a hand on her shoulder lightly. "Look, how about I give you a ride home?" Tristan suggested, eyeing her as she took her keys out of her purse, subtly shrugging his hand away.

"Uh... my car," she said gesturing to the car she was leaning on "I can drive."

"You've been drinking."

She laughed as she wiped her cheeks free of the tears. "Yeah, cokes. I'm twenty."

"Right," he nodded remembering that she'd mentioned she was a minor. "Look, I'll drive you home. I'll feel better knowing you made it back okay." He sighed. It was a rough part of town, she was upset and his guilt was eating at him. "And that way I can reassure your friend too."

She hesitated. Nate didn't know she'd left. Sighing, knowing she'd regret it, she handed over the keys to her car before going over to the passenger's side and getting in.

Tristan stood in shock. Here was the girl that he liked, yet disliked, willingly giving him the keys to her car. He frowned before getting in and adjusting the seat to fit his height and leg length before starting the car.

"SDSU, right?"

She blinked. "Uh, yeah. Lot 7."

Tristan frowned as he made his way towards the college campus. "Lot 7? There's not a girls' dorm by lot 7."

She bit her lip. "I know."

He looked over at her. "Are you..." He fought down the tinge of jealousy coursing through him "Meeting your boyfriend or something?"

He was startled when she let out a laugh, then covered her mouth suppressing her giggles as she looked at him. "Boyfriend, yeah right," she scoffed "I live with Nate."

"SDSU is not co-ed," he pointed out.

She shook her head with a sigh. "I got a screwed up room assignment, but I became friends with Nate and we just kept it. None of the administrators know nor will they know... right?"

"Right," he nodded. "And I don't have an in with any administrators. That's Finn."

She nodded, not doubting for a minute that the Australian had an in with everyone at the campus. Feeling her phone vibrate again, she opened her purse and took out her phone, frowning when she saw her sister calling again.

It was odd seeing as Serena only called once every two months. It allowed Rory to get comfortable in her own skin again, her self-confidence rose, then like clockwork, Serena would call and for some odd reason, Rory would allow her to burst her bubble.

"Round two," she muttered before answering. "What?"

"My my, little sister, what a greeting."

"What do you want?"

"Are you coming home anytime soon?" Serena sighed bored.

Rory frowned looking at Tristan. She could tell he was trying hard not to pry into the conversation, but was failing. "Uh, I believe my next mandatory visit is at Christmas which isn't for another three months."

"Not Hartford, you moron, I meant your dorm."

Rory bit her lip to keep from lashing out, then frowned considering her sister's words, realizing what she meant. "My do... No!" she said immediately knowing where the conversation was going.

"Look Lor-"

"Rory," she muttered.

"Whatever, I need a place to crash."

"Then go on the corner, stick out your boobs and wait for a car to come. I'm telling you, you'd make more money that way than modeling."

"Too bad that wit of yours can't get you a guy."

"Too bad opening your legs isn't enough for you to keep a guy. Go find someone else to crash with." She snapped her phone shut and threw it in the backseat as Tristan parked the car in Lot 7. "Sorry," she muttered. "I don't like washing out dirty laundry in front of people, but if I didn't answer my phone, she was bound to keep calling."

"It's fine," Tristan said.

"I'm not a bitch," she said quickly, replaying the conversation in her head, knowing that what she had said sounded cold-hearted. "I just... You don't know my sister."

"You have a sister?" Tristan asked surprised. If there were more women who looked like Lorelai... no, Rory Hayden, then the world was in trouble.

"Unfortunately," she sighed gathering her bag and regretfully grabbing her phone from the back seat.

Tristan followed her lead and got out of the car. He started following her, only to have her stop and turn. "What are you doing?"

"Uh... walking you to your dorm," Tristan stated as if it were obvious.

"Why?"

"Because it is..." he looked at his watch, "Nearing midnight, and that's when all the weirdoes and rapists come out to play. Thought I'd make sure you got home safely."

"Why?"

Tristan frowned. "What?"

"Why do you care?" She said slowly. "You don't like me, I don't like you. So why do you care if I get accosted by a weirdo..."

"Or raped?" He asked, then shrugged. "Sorry if I tend to worry about woman's safety in the middle of the night."

She sighed, though she understood his stance and appreciated the effort. She just wasn't in the mood. "Just..." She winced. She hated when she acted like a bitch. It reminded her of her sister and she tried her best not to act like her. "Fine," she bit out as she started walking again, this time with Tristan in step with her. Tristan handed her her keys before stuffing his hands in his pockets, wondering just how much cash he had to call a cab and get back to the club.

"Oh, fuck me," she muttered, stopping just outside of the dorms.

"Excuse me?" He asked surprised by her outburst.

"Just... stay here," she said quietly walking further. He frowned when he saw a tall slim woman standing near one of the doors, talking, no, flirting, with one of the men that Tristan took for a student. Was this Rory's sister?

"Hello Jeffery," Rory greeted the young man talking to her sister.

"Hey Ro-"

"Goodbye Jeffery," she said shooing him away with a wave of her hand.

Serena gave a sultry smirk and waved her fingers in goodbye in his direction. "Don't worry, if I need you, I will know where to find you," she lilted.

Rory crossed her arms over her chest. "Didn't I tell you to leave?"

Serena raked her gaze over Rory and her lips turned into a teasing smile. "My my, isn't the little tomboy all dressed up. Did you get invited to some geek party?"

"Not that it's any of your business, Seri, but I went out to a club."

Serena gave a bark of laughter that echoed across the halls, causing Rory to wince. "You? You went out clubbing?" She laughed again. "Right. I think you tried too hard though. I mean those tights, they just ooze virgin."

"I'm going to ask you one more time, Seri, what the hell are you doing here?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "I'm here for a modeling shoot of course. But turns out more people wanted me than my agent and I thought, so I'm taking up temporary residence in San Diego."

"What?!"

"Didn't mom tell you? I could have sworn she said she would tell you, so that you could prepare for my arrival tonight."

Rory felt her lungs close off and felt her air supply become non-existent. She and Serena living in the same town. Hell, she could barely stand Serena the 18 years she lived in the same house.

"Now, if you'd be so kind to let me in..."

"No, Ser-"

"Let me in, geek, or I tell mother that you refuse to house your big sister. And that you're living with a boy."

"I'm not-"

"Please, I'm not stupid," Serena scoffed.

Rory held in a snort of disbelief, but opened the door unwillingly. "One night, Seri."

"I'll leave when I'm good and ready," Serena said closing the door once again. Rory leaned against the door and Tristan took his cue to come forward.

"So that's your sister."

"I can't breathe," she muttered, taking deep calming breaths. "Shit, I can't-" she slid to the floor, taking her breath just like she did when she used to have anxiety attacks.

Long breath in, slow long breath out, long breath in, slow long breath out. She repeated the process a few more times before she felt her heartbeat return to semi-normal. This one hadn't been as bad as some of the ones she'd had in the past. Her past ones usually ended with her bent over a toilet bowl, emptying the contents of her stomach until she calmed down.

"You okay?"

She looked up only to lean back against the wall when she saw Tristan crouched down next to her. She suddenly became aware of his hand running up and down her spine, creating a soothing affect. "Fine," she muttered as he helped her back up on wobbly legs. "I, uh... I have to go in there."

"Right. Well, I have to get back to the club."

She frowned. "How... Oh, you..." She made sure the door was unlocked before handing him her car keys. "Take my car."

"What?" He asked surprised.

"You drove me here in my car, so take it back to the club. I trust you'll take good care of it."

"I can take a cab, it's no big deal."

"Don't waste money, I'm willingly letting you take my car," she shrugged. "I'll pick it up tomorrow after my two o'clock class."

Tristan sighed, having the feeling she wouldn't let it go. He took the keys, though he didn't quite feel comfortable with it. "All right."

"Good." She watched him turn and bit her lip. "I'm not sorry, by the way."

Tristan turned. "What?"

"About the review. I don't regret writing it. I was going to tell you that tonight if I saw you, but I got in a pissy mood, and well... I didn't. I don't regret writing it, I'm not sorry it got published."

"I knew that," he cut her off, a bit of annoyance lacing his voice.

"But," she continued, "I am sorry what it resulted in. I never mean to piss off the objects of my reviews, as much as everyone believes I do. I write my opinions, and if they piss people off, then... oh well. But hurting you personally wasn't my intention."

"You said I should leave the clubbing business behind and marry a blonde," he quoted with a raised eyebrow.

She winced. "I had actually crossed that out, it went to press without my knowledge."

"Ah, but you had written it down."

"Sometimes when I'm under stress or pressure, I take out frustration on other people. You were the nearest target and I took it."

"That's not good journalism," he pointed out. 

"I know. But you don't have my family," she murmured. "I'll see you tomorrow. I expect my car returned to me in the same condition it was loaned."

"I'll put it with my car, it won't be harmed."

"All right." She opened the door, only to hear Serena's shrilling voice.

"Jeez, Rory, don't you have any proper cleansing products in here?"

Rory shook her head. 'Bye."

"See ya," he said watching her go through the door, slouched over, not standing as tall as he had seen before. He wondered just how bad her older sibling was. Pretty bad from the looks of it, but then again, everyone had annoying siblings. He thought of Mars and John and had to smile. Even they had their moments. He got into the car that he felt like he was carjacking and drove back to the club in record time.

Parking the car near his red 2008 Jeep Wrangler, making sure it was locked before going to his apartment the back way. After climbing the steps, he unlocked his door and entered his apartment, went through the hall, past his bedroom and into his living room, and collapsed on the couch.

"So... how'd it go?" A voice asked just as he closed her eyes and started to relax.

He jackknifed off the couch, lost his balance and tumbled onto the floor, hitting his head on the leg of the end table. He heard laughter from behind him as he got up and rubbed his aching head. He looked and found Colin, Finn and Paris waiting for him.

"Aren't you two supposed to be manning the bar?" He grumbled going into the kitchen and grabbing a beer.

"We grabbed Kate and have her serving for a while," Finn told him.

Tristan frowned. Kate was a bartender/waitress that only worked there because Finn thought she was hot. Tristan didn't have the heart to fire her, only because she did a damn good job and because she usually came in when someone was sick, filling in for a position. The problem was that she'd made it quite obvious that she liked Tristan in more than a friendly way and tended to get irritated when he didn't reciprocate, taking it out on the clubbers.

"So... Did you sleep with her?" Paris asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

"No," Tristan said taking a big gulp of his beer. "I drove her home, talked briefly and left."

"You didn't take your car," Colin pointed out.

"I drove her car and brought it back... per her request. That's it."

"Not even a kiss?" Paris said straightening.

"No."

"Well fuck, why the hell am I up here? I'm kicking Kate out and getting back to work." She shook her head. "Wuss," she muttered before leaving the apartment.

"I went through all that trouble to get her here and you didn't even kiss her?!" Finn asked taken aback by the news.

"Look, Finn, I appreciate everything you did to get her here, but tonight just wasn't the night."

"So you like her?" Colin asked slowly, trying to assess the situation.

"Yeah..." Tristan said slowly, then sighed. "Well, I don't know her. I mean for the last week I thought she was Lorelai Gilmore."

"Which she is," Finn pointed out.

"But now she's Rory Hayden."

"Which she is. Just because you liked Lorelai, doesn't mean you don't like Rory," Finn stated.

"But which one is she, Finn, is she this sexy goddess who has no inhibitions, or is she some nerd that goes to SDSU?"

Colin frowned not quite liking the description. "Who said she's uninhibited? And who said that Lorelai and Rory are two different people, Tristan? You're taking someone you saw once in your club and the way she acted and making it into who she is. Rory Hayden may be a combination of the two."

Tristan shrugged. "I don't know. Tonight she was so different around her sister."

"Serena Hayden?" Colin asked surprised. "You met Serena Hayden?"

"Uh… saw her from afar. Never officially met her," Tristan clarified. "Why? You know her?" He asked intrigued.

"I grew up with them," Colin said carefully. He didn't talk about his life before San Diego that much. He had lived in Hartford his entire life before his father's job transferred him to San Diego, pulling Colin out of school in the middle of his junior year. He thought about it before wording what he said carefully. "I hung out more with Serena than I did with Rory," Colin shrugged. "She was a bitch though, a big slut too," he said trying to keep the bitterness from his words. "But no one could say shit. The Haydens are pretty big in Hartford, loaded."

Tristan frowned. "That's right, you grew up in Hartford." Colin nodded. "So you don't know Rory?"

Colin tilted his head in thought. "I know I ran into her a couple of times when she was hanging out with her cousin. Hartford's pretty small when you're a high schooler. I was a junior when I left to come out here, she was just starting high school."

"What was she like?" Finn asked settling himself down on the stool, Colin next to him as Tristan made himself comfortable across from them.

"Uh..." Colin frowned, "Quiet. We went to Hartford High, which was surprising seeing who her parents were. But Rory wanted to be with her cousin and friend, and Serena loved to be the center of attention, which she was in a public school."

"What about private?" Tristan asked.

"She'd only be competing with all the other tall, leggy girls who stuck out their chests to get laid. At Hartford High she was the girl everyone wanted to be. Rory, now I remember how she dressed, but that's about it. We talked a few times, shared like two classes."

"And..." Finn prompted.

Colin shrugged. "Believe it or not, her fashion sense is better now. She used to wear these gray sweats to school all the time. I don't know if they were the same or different, this big black sweatshirt, and her hair was always up in a bun, then with big round glasses and pens sticking out of it. She was quiet in the class, always mumbling her answers. She was one of those people that you saw and instantly forgot they were there." Colin frowned. "That's why it took me by surprise that she was here. She isn't much of a people person. She was never at parties, though Serena was, as was her cousin. Now he was also a big shot. I remember Jess pretty well, and his girlfriend... uh, Stephanie."

"They were popular?" Tristan asked, trying to understand Rory, even if it were tidbits from Colin's fragmented memory.

"They weren't of Serena's status, but people knew them as the "It" couple. They broke it off one day, could be found making out in the janitor's closet the next. Rory was always trailing behind them. But now, the fact that she's actually attempting to dress up and the fact that last week, when she was in here, she was wearing jeans that's big for her," Colin shrugged. "Just know, Tristan, that Rory comes from a fucked-up family."

"You know more than you're letting on," Tristan stated looking at Colin as he straightened.

Colin shrugged looking at his watch. "I have to go. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." He left the apartment avoiding any more questions and took out his cell phone that had been vibrating for the past ten minutes.

"Did you know she was going to be here?" He heard her ask tearfully, causing him to take a seat on the steps of the darkened stairwell that led to Tristan's office.

"I swear I didn't," he whispered knowing that the walls were thin.

"Can you send Nate home?" She whispered. "I can't be here alone with her, Colin."

Colin nodded. "I'll look for him. Want me to warn Jess and Steph?"

She sniffed. "Just Nate, please, I can't... Colin."

He sighed. "When'd she get there, sweetie?" He looked at his watch again. Dammit, he had some errands to run.

"Tonight."

"Is she staying the night?"

"I-I don't know," she whispered. "She said she's staying here temporarily."

"In the dorm?" He asked surprised. The dorm was a little low class for Serena.

"In San Diego. I can't be by myself with her here, Colin. I'm going to turn back into high school Rory, and then... and then I'm going to become that invisible girl again. I can't-" he heard her start to hyperventilate again and heard the door open behind him.

"Do you have a paper bag, sweetie?" He didn't get an answer, instead he heard the crinkling of the paper bag she was using to breathe into. "Go into the bedroom and just stay there. Give me ten minutes and we'll be there soon, okay?"

"Thanks," she breathed before he hung up.

"You came out here to take a phone call?" He heard Tristan ask behind him.

"I got the call just as I left," he said standing, "I sat down to talk. I have to get going." He glanced at his watch which didn't go unnoticed by either Finn or Tristan. "Shit," he muttered descending the rest of the steps, Tristan and Finn behind him.

While Finn and Tristan headed to the bar they watched Colin go out on the dance floor, as Taking Back Sunday finished their set, and pushed his way through. Two minutes later he was pushing his way through again, this time someone behind him following him out of the crowd and out of the club.

"That's Rory's roommate," Finn said watching as they left.

"What?" Tristan asked turning his gaze towards where Finn was looking.

"The guy following Colin is Rory's roommate at SDSU."

"Looks like Colin _does_ know more than he's letting on," Tristan muttered.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"So her sister is in the dorm?" Nate clarified as they jogged across the campus.

"Yeah, and she's staying there," Colin said.

Nate paused and stared at Colin. "You're kidding?"

"Nate, there's no time to stop," Colin said as he pulled the taller man's arm.

Nate sighed as he dug around for his keys and let Colin into the dorm as they reached it. They stopped dead when they saw Serena sitting on the couch in boy shorts, her bra and her silk robe open for them to see her well-formed body.

"Oh," she smirked capping the nail polish she had been using. "The cavalry has arrived. She's in there," she pointed towards Nate's room, "breathing into her paper bag. I'm pretty sure I heard her crying too. You know, the usual."

Colin patted Nate's arm and signaled for him to go into the bedroom. Nate stared at Serena in disbelief at her callousness before going into his bedroom. Colin stared at his ex as she stood up, not bothering to close her robe.

"Colin," she smirked as she walked towards him.

"Serena," he said coldly.

"Aww," she cooed trailing her fingers down his cheek. "Are you still bitter about the incident in high school?"

Colin pulled away and rolled his eyes. "The world doesn't revolve around you, Serena," he said. Though her words rang true, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of showing that he still resented her.

"Hm," Serena nodded letting her finger brush against his shoulder as it dropped. "That's what all scorned lovers say, isn't it?" She raised an eyebrow before going into Rory's room and closing the door.

"Unbelievable," he muttered before going into the bedroom where he saw Rory lying on Nate's leg as he ran his hand through her hair. She was breathing deeply into a paper bag and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Colin sighed. As much as he loved Rory, it was tiring having to come to her rescue after an encounter with her parents or Serena. Thank god Nate was at her side to deal with most of it.

He checked his watch. He had about half an hour before he had to get started with his errands. Sitting down next to her he carefully took the paper bag away from her mouth, her breathing deep as the crinkling of the bag stopped.

"You okay?"

"I can't…" she took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes free of tears. "I can't deal with her, Colin. I can't."

"You can't let her get to you," Nate told her.

"I can't help it. I know everything she says is just to get to me, but after twenty years of hearing it, it's just… it's difficult not to get hurt by it."

"You'd think you'd be able to put a wall up by now," Colin said softly.

"I try," she admitted. "I try so hard to go into a battle with her armed with insults, put up a wall and try not to get hurt. But everything I throw at her bounces off and ends up biting me in the ass." She let tears slip down her cheeks before wiping them off. "I hate her so much."

Colin looked at his watch again, causing Rory to frown. "Do you need to be somewhere, Colin?" She wasn't annoyed, but confused. He was usually the most comforting, having been burned by Serena in the past.

"I, uh... I just have some errands to run is all."

Nate looked at the clock on his nightstand. "At one in the morning?"

"It's the only time I can do them," Colin admitted as he looked at Rory. "Look, I'll try my best to get Serena out of here soon. I promise, Ror."

She gave a short nod as he stood up. Nate placed her head on the pillows as he followed Colin out. "You okay, man?"

"Me?" Colin asked as he left the dorm while Nate leaned against the doorjamb. "I'm fine."

"Errands to run at one in the morning? What, you have a girlfriend you don't want Rory to know about?"

"Trust me, if I had a girlfriend, you would know," Colin laughed. "No, it's just club stuff."

"All right, see you later."

"Yeah, take care of Rory for me. Just keep with her all week. I'm going to try to get in contact with Rory's uncle Luke, see if maybe he can spot some cash for Serena to get a place. He wouldn't want her here anymore than Rory does."

"What about their parents?"

"Please," Colin scoffed. "They probably think Serena is staying with a guy, that's why she doesn't have a place set up here. Let her get a lay of the land and she'll be living with some rich guy in two weeks tops," he shrugged. "It's her style."

"I'll keep Rory busy, you get Serena out of here."

Colin nodded. "I'll do my best. Give me two days, week at the most."

"Okay," Nate nodded as Colin turned and walked to his car. He was up to something, Nate thought looking at his friend. His errands weren't just club errands, he had a feeling Colin was into something much deeper than that and had to wonder when he would need saving. Closing the door, he cast a glance at Rory's bedroom where the evil sister lay before moving to his room to console his broken friend.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Rory dragged her feet as she held onto Nate, her eyes closed as she leaned against Nate's hard body. The routine was the same every morning: he would wake her up, she'd put on the first thing her hand reached for and sleep on him until they reached their class. She trusted he would lead her to the correct place and not run her into any walls.

Today she had chosen to wear jeans and a long dark blue knit sweater that fell to mid-thigh. Though that type of look was now back in style Rory highly doubted that her ratty sweater that had suffered through the hardships of high school with her would be considered fashionable. It was so loose around the neck that it slipped off her shoulder constantly, but it was comfortable, and on crappy days like this one, she wore it to feel better.

"You fell asleep with your contacts on," Nate told her as they sat down in their usual third row seats. He handed her the small coffee he'd gotten as they walked. She'd taken a short nap against him while they waited.

"Yep," she sad resisting the urge to push the edge of her nose, she'd left her glasses in her room, and since she'd only ventured in to get clothes, she'd forgone the glasses.

"Rory?"

She looked up and smiled at the blonde woman slipping into the seat next to her. "Marlee."

"Wow, almost didn't recognize you without your glasses. It was actually the sweater that tipped me off."

Rory laughed pulling the sweater up and hiding her hands with the overlarge ends of sleeves. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Hey Nathan," Marlee smiled.

Nate stared at her blinking slowly before swallowing and nodding. "Mars." He grabbed his notebooks and moved out of the aisle. "I see some friends of mine, I'm going to… go." He rushed out of the aisle, tripping on his feet before moving to the last row with a couple of guys.

"He's an oddball, isn't he?" Marlee asked with laugh, turning to look at him.

"Only around you," Rory muttered.

"So I heard you met my brother the other night."

"Your brother?" Rory asked looking fully at Marlee.

"Yeah, I thought..." She laughed shaking her blonde hair out of her eyes. "I thought you knew Tristan was my brother."

Rory opened her mouth, then promptly closed it, reformulating her words before saying. "DuGray… he's your brother?"

"I thought you knew my last name was DuGray," Marlee asked confused.

"I…" Rory frowned. "I did, I just… wow." She hit her forehead. "This is now embarrassing; I mean you read that review."

Marlee laughed "Oh, I found the review hilarious. My brother, I love him deeply, but he takes that club way too seriously."

Rory gave a sigh of relief as she looked at the blonde. She'd met Marlee at the freshman orientation and had surprisingly bonded with her. She was beautiful. She had long blonde hair that fell in waves around her shoulders, pale blue eyes that men fell head over heel for, and curves to die for. Her personality matched her to a tee. She was polite and outgoing, talked to everyone, but didn't trust easily. Rory had decided to add a girl friend into her circle when she'd gotten a bit tired of hanging out with just Jess and Stephanie. Nate and Marlee had been a fresh change of pace for her.

The teacher breezed in and started the lesson, prompting Marlee and Rory to start taking notes and paying attention.

The thing with Marlee was that she had a longtime boyfriend, who she was engaged to and deeply and madly in love with. Nate found it heartbreaking. He'd fallen for her hard from the first moment he met her, but the usually calm and smooth-talking Nathan always found himself tongue-tied and at a loss for words in Marlee's presence, something that entertained Rory and she always felt the need to get Nate in the same room with her to watch the crash. The thing was Marlee couldn't have been more oblivious to Nate's infatuation. She found him odd and clumsy, something Nate was not.

An hour later they were standing up and walking out. Rory snagged Nate's arm before he had a chance to escape and forget about his promise to give her a ride to Cupid's Psyche.

"Hey, do you want to get together later this week and study?" Marlee asked flipping through the Native American Folk Tales book that they had to read for their class. "I can never get these stupid stories straight."

Rory laughed. "These "stupid stories", as you so eloquently put it, are the foundation of storytelling today."

"Oh jeez, I didn't mean to offend you, Rory," Marlee laughed. "I'm just an idiot when it comes to this stuff. I'm not like you and Nathan, I can't remember this crap. Greek, Native American, Celtic, Irish, it's all the same to me. So if I had your help…" she led.

Rory laughed. "You don't have to butter this geek up, Mars, tell me when and where and we'll study."

"Great, I'll call you. I have to run to English." She kissed Rory's cheek, then Nate's quickly. "Talk to you guys later."

"Bye," Nate choked out touching his cheek.

Rory patted his arm sympathetically as he watched her go "Come on, you softie, let's go get my car."

"Sure," Nate sighed following her to his car. He drove her silently and Rory sighed.

"Are you going back to the dorm?"

Nate shrugged. "I have two art classes which start in an hour. I'll probably head to the library and study. I have a math class tonight too."

Rory nodded. "All right."

"You?" Nate asked parking across the street from Cupid's Psyche.

"Uh, no more classes," she said noticing Bo sitting on a foldout chair, flipping through an automotive magazine. She grabbed her bag. "I'll probably head to the city library."

"Well, if you find yourself with nowhere to go but the dorm, head to Steph's or Jess's."

"Trust me, the dorm is the last place I'll be while Serena is there," she said kissing his cheek. "Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime," Nate nodded as she left the car and watched him drive away. Jogging across the street she sighed tiredly at Bo, causing him to look up

"Miss Hayden," he nodded eyeing his magazine again.

She sighed again. "Look, we got off on the wrong foot, Bo." He didn't look up. "I tricked you, and I used your wife and kid knowing the advantage and that was wrong."

He looked up then, eyeing her with interest. "Go on."

"And I'm sorry. I'm a nice person, I really am. And your wife and kid really are very lucky to have you. I just knew I had to do something to get in, but what I did was very bad and wrong and I do feel really guilty. And I just think that we should start anew, clean the slate and start over. I think we could end up being very good friends," she finished.

Bo raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, but instead of responding looked down at his magazine.

Rory frowned and bit her lip, not quite sure what had been decided. "Uh… in honor of this new slate, I think that honesty should be used, right?"

He glanced back up at her. "All right."

"So I should tell you that I am really meeting Tristan. He brought my car back last night and I need to retrieve the keys. He is really expecting me this time."

"Yeah," Bo smirked. "I know."

Rory gaped at the beefy man, resisting the urge to throttle him. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, Mr. DuGray let me know, before he left this morning, to let you in. That you and he had some stuff to discuss. You're on the list indefinitely."

"So… I just went through those hoops for nothing?" She asked putting her hands on her hips.

"No," Bo laughed patting her hand. "You now have me as a friend. I like you, Miss Hayden."

Rory felt herself soften for the large man and smiled. "And I like you, Bo. When's your birthday?"

He laughed. "When it nears, I'll let you know. Why don't you go on in? Mr. Morgan is in there now."

"Thanks." She patted Bo's shoulder smiling before going into the club. Music was playing softly from the sound system. She leaned against the door as it closed softly behind her, watching Finn as he restocked. He was in white board shorts and a white wife beater. His hair was slicked back and wet, falling in strands constantly in front of his face, but he pushed them back.

She liked Finn, he had the big brother vibe with her. From the way his eyes showed concern that brief moment when she had gotten mad and left the pub to the amusement and the protection they showed when he saw Tristan hadn't followed her at first.

He was singing with the song, using the bottle neck of tequila as a microphone. Not being able to resist the smile, she let it cross her face as he finished the song. She began to clap, causing him to turn and drop the bottle in surprise.

"Oh fuck," he muttered bending to pick up the broken bottle.

"Sorry," she laughed going to the bar and leaning over it to watch him. "Couldn't resist."

"It's fine, love," he laughed. "Don't mind people watching me perform, I thrive on it. You just caught me by surprise is all."

"Will you guys be okay on tequila?"

"Oh yeah, we always order extra of the stuff and if we run out, I'll just blame you."

"Good to know," she laughed. "You're all wet," she pointed out touching a strand of hair in front of his face with a smile.

Finn laughed pushing his hair back again. "Very astute of you, love. I just got back from the beach."

"The beach?" She raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, never been."

"You've…" he gaped at her as he threw away the sharps of glass. "How long have you lived in San Diego?"

"Uh… about three years."

"And you've never been to the beach?"

"Can't say that I have," Rory shrugged. "Just never wanted to. Nate goes some weekends with some of his friends. Always invites me along, I've just never said yes. Why would I go to the beach?"

"It's…" Finn shook his head. "So I'm guessing you don't surf?"

"Nope."

"Shame."

"Is that why you went?"

Finn nodded grabbing the mop and cleaning the spilt alcohol. "Though Paris thinks she hates me, we have a standing date to meet down at the beach in the morning and surf together."

"Paris?"

"The bartender."

"Right."

"We meet twice a week early morning, surf, then go our separate ways," Finn said, not telling her that there was so much more than riding on those surfing days than he let on. The minute she stepped on the beach, they talked with their eyes, conveying each emotion. Surfing meant something to both of them, for different personal reasons, and the fact that they shared it in common meant a lot to him.

Rory smiled. "That seems like a nice tradition."

"It is," he nodded, looking at her as he leaned against the mop. "It's good to see you smile."

"Oh?"

"The few times I've seen you, you've always looked so sad. It's good to see you laughing. You're very beautiful when you laugh."

Rory blushed and looked away. "Right."

Noting that she was uncomfortable, he quickly changed the subject. "Tristan's not here."

"Uh, yeah, I know," Rory nodded, giving a mental sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to explain why she was so uncomfortable receiving compliments. "Bo told me he left in the morning."

"He did. He'll be back soon, he had errands to run, then had to get his tux fitted."

"Tux?"

"For the wedding."

"Oh," she frowned as Finn turned his back on her to put up clean glasses. Tristan DuGray was engaged? She wondered why that little tidbit hadn't shown up in her research. Because if it had, she would have never have made the comment about the blonde. But she bet all of her trust fund money that the fiancée was blonde and skinny as hell.

"Where did your mind wonder to, love?" Finn asked amused.

"Nowhere," she said quickly. "Tristan wouldn't have by any chance given you the keys to my car, would he?"

Finn shrugged. "Sorry, love, I have the feeling Tristan wanted to talk to you in person."

Rory sighed and leaned her cheek on her fist. "Damn."

"Busy?"

"Just wanted to run by the library and get some work done. It's why I brought down my books and laptop."

Finn opened up the partition of the bar and started towards the office, motioning her to follow. Getting up and following he led her to the office to the side of the club. "You can work up here."

"In the office?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Finn frowned. "No, not the office." He opened the door behind the desk to reveal a set of stairs. Walking up, Rory bit her lip before following his lead and going up the stairs herself. At the top of the stairs he opened another door and walked in. She stopped at the doorway and looked at the apartment.

"Is this your place?"

"My place? No. This is Tristan's apartment."

"Oh, Finn, I wouldn't feel comfortable working up here without Tristan knowing."

"Don't worry about it," Finn waved off as he grabbed her hand and dragged her in, sitting her down on the couch. "Get comfortable. Tristan won't mind it, I swear. And if he does, you can blame it on me."

"As opposed to blaming it on…."

"Right," Finn nodded turning to leave.

"Finn?"

Finn turned back. "Yes?"

"Bo, he said I was on some list," Rory said. "That I was on it indefinitely. What does that mean?"

"Oh right. Tristan makes a list up every morning of employees or people in general who are allowed in before opening. Tristan's family along with certain coworkers are always on the list. And you were added on."

"I was?"

Finn nodded. "We've taken a liking to you, love. Just means we want to see you around," He shrugged before turning back. "Tristan has some sodas in the fridge if you feel parched. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Thanks."

"Welcome," he nodded before leaving her in the apartment alone. Laying her messenger bag on the couch she stood up and looked around the apartment. Black leather couches, dark wood coffee table with matching end tables, plasma screen TV mounted on the wall, flanked by two windows. Underneath sat a very impressive entertainment center. On far left was a fireplace that she assumed was functional, since it looked like it had been lit recently, on the mantle there were pictures of him and his family.

Going over she saw the pictures of him and Marlee in a park at what looked like a birthday party. They had taken the picture themselves, seeing as their faces were close to the lens. Marlee was smiling at the camera while Tristan kissed her cheek. Another was of him and an older male, like a brother. They were in front of a barbecue, both laughing at something while staring at the grill. There were a few other family pictures of older versions of Tristan who she assumed was his father, along with one of an older woman who she assumed was his mother.

The last two pictures made her smile as she picked them up. One was of Tristan, Finn and Colin at the opening of Cupid's Psyche, Tristan holding a large pair of scissors up to a red ribbon while Colin and Finn flanked him, huge smiles on their faces. A proud moment that had her smiling. Putting the picture back in its place she looked at the last one and felt her smile widen. It was a candid picture of Tristan. He was crouched down holding three cones of ice cream and smiling at two small children as he handed over two cones. The little kids were laughing at him and from the spark in Tristan's eyes she could tell that he was just as amused.

Putting the picture back, biting her lip she knew that she had assumed the worst about the club owner. As she did with everyone. Sitting on the couch and getting her books and laptop out she set out to work. She would get as much work as she could done, then when Tristan came in she would apologize for judging him. Nodding at her decision, she opened up her notebooks with her notes and started her research paper on the influence Greek and Roman mythology had on their present everyday life.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"I hate my tailor," Tristan said walking into the club while running a hand through his hair.

"Wandering hands?" Finn laughed, causing Paris to snort.

"No," Tristan said. "Thank god. His eyesight's going, the old man won't listen when I tell him one pant leg is shorter than the other." Shaking his head he looked around and noticed that no one but them was there. "Did Rory come?"

"Yep," Finn nodded. "A few hours ago, and since you didn't give me her car keys to give to her, and she had to study, I sent her up to your place to work."

"My apartment?" Tristan asked walking towards the office.

"Yeah, I checked up on her about a half hour ago. She was hard at work, snapped at me when I tried to get her to take a break."

Tristan didn't hear him as he closed the door to his office, left his messenger bag that he took with him by his desk and walked up to his apartment. Opening the door softly as to not startle her, he frowned when he saw a laptop sitting on his coffee table along with papers and books surrounding the area. Walking closer he stopped dead when he saw Rory sleeping on his couch.

She was holding the book open with one hand, while the other acted as a pillow under her head. The blue sweater she had one was slipping off her shoulder, giving him a view of the pale unblemished skin underneath and letting him know she wore nothing underneath the sweater. It was tempting to place his lips there. Or on her partially opened lips.

Deciding he didn't want to wake her up just to have her drive back to her place or give into temptation, he went to his room and grabbed the throw blanket his mother had given him from the end of his bed and covered her up. Taking the book from her hand, he marked the page before setting it on the end table.

Making sure she didn't stir, he grabbed the papers he needed and headed back down to his office. Leaving the apartment door open in case she woke up, he sat down behind his desk and picked up his phone. He would call Nate and let him know where Rory was before getting to work.

Rory awoke, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she stared at her laptop before sitting up and taking in her surroundings. She remembered that she was in Tristan's apartment and calmed down, only frowning when she saw a blanket covering her legs. Finn must have come up earlier and covered her up. Sweet guy that one, she thought as she started gathering her stuff and putting it in her bag. She hoped Tristan was back, because she needed to get home. Moving across the apartment she descended the stairs, only to hear a familiar voice coming from downstairs.

"I've got work to do." He sounded flustered, but at the same time very amused by the conversation. He turned when the last step squeaked under the weight of her feet. She walked into the office and gave a small wave.

He held up a finger smirking as he leaned down to his drawers, phone still attached to his ear. "No, I can't this weekend, I do love you," He laughed opening the drawer and pulling out a set of keys, setting them on the desk "I do love the kids, but I really can't this weekend."

Rory sat in the chair opposite his desk. So he was getting married and had kids. God, what the hell was wrong with her research?

"Look, I'm pretty sure Finn is busy this weekend too, Jen. And I wouldn't trust him with Matt and Ash anyway. With the club yes, with kids five and under not so much. Yeah." She sensed he hesitated but nodded. "All right, I'll take them, but only if you keep your end of the deal." He laughed. "Great, drop them off on Saturday morning and I'll take them off your hands. Love you too, tell John I said hi. Yeah, bye." He hung up and shook his head. "I see you've woken up."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep," she blushed. "I didn't sleep much last night and I guess it just sort of hit me."

"It's fine. You're welcome to. Finn told me he sent you up there to study."

'Yeah, I was planning on going to the library, but I guess it was better that I fell asleep here than at the library."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Considering the time."

"The…" she trailed off looking at her cell phone, gaping at the time. "It's ten o'clock."

He laughed. "Yes, it is. The club opened about an hour ago."

She opened her mouth, but closed it shaking her head. "I didn't hear any music, still don't."

"I soundproofed my apartment and office years ago. I can't think straight when I hear hardcore rap coursing through my brain."

"Yeah, I would assume not." She stood up and reached for her keys, only to have them taken away from her again.

"So I talked to Nate..."

"My Nate?" She asked removing her hand from the desk, confused by his actions.

"Yes, your Nate," he laughed, once again pushing down the jealousy and reminding himself that they were just friends. "And we decided that it would be better if you stayed in my guest room tonight."

"Excuse me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's late. Nate doesn't want you to drive back and he's staying with a friend of his tonight, so I offered my guest room," he shrugged.

Rory thought about it and bit her lip. That meant that if she returned to her dorm it was most likely that Serena was there, which meant they would come to blows, which Rory wanted to avoid. Stephanie and Jess's dorm was off limits after ten seeing as they were most likely out and about and she would be stuck with their freak roommates.

Sighing she nodded hesitantly. "Fine."

"Really?" He asked surprised.

"I'm not too fond of the idea, but I really don't feel like seeing my sister tonight, so I'll stay in your guest bedroom. As long as I'm not imposing."

"You aren't," he assured, handing her over the keys, sure she would stay. "Let's get you settled then," he said standing and leading her back upstairs.

"I'm still not sure why you're doing this."

"I talked to Bo."

Rory frowned. "Okay..." she said slowly, not quite sure where he was going with the conversation.

"And you told him that your first meeting wasn't stellar and you wanted to start off with a clean slate," he said turning to her when he opened the door to the guest bedroom. "And now you guys are friends, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, our first meeting wasn't great, and I don't see why we can't start afresh."

She couldn't come up with a reason either. "What's the catch?" She asked.

"No catch," he said immediately. "Just friends."

She narrowed her eyes, trying to read him. "I'm not easy."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "If you think that this friendship is going to end with me on my back with my legs open, you're wrong," she said crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not easy."

"Never thought you were," he said slowly. "I just want to be your friend."

"As much as I doubt that, I'll accept it for now," she nodded as he unblocked the door and let her into the bedroom.

"I'll go grab you something to sleep in. I'm pretty sure my sister's left some stuff."

"I'm fine in this," she said, but he'd already left the room, causing her to sigh and put her bag on the bed.

He came back holding an oversized shirt and some boxers. "Turns out she took them to her place," he said apologetically. "I have to go downstairs and make sure everything is being taken care of in the club. I'll be back up in an hour. Make yourself at home, I have food and drinks in the fridge."

"Thanks," she said quietly.

He gave a brief nod before leaving her alone in the apartment. She heard the door close and sat on the bed releasing the breath she'd been holding in. One minute Tristan DuGray hated her with every fiber of his being, the next he was asking to be her friend.

The truth was she hated new friends; it meant trusting them, it meant telling them about her life, it meant letting her guard down. And the last time she'd done that, she'd ended up broken and alone and with her self-esteem the lowest it had ever been. She'd finally found a place in her life where she felt semi-normal and she knew she couldn't take another letdown.

"I just won't let him in," she said to herself, stripping off her sweater and putting on the white undershirt of Tristan's and wiggling out of her pants to slide on the boxers. "I won't let him in and my guard will be up twenty four-seven." She wouldn't be hurt anymore, not by Serena, not by her parents, and certainly not by Tristan DuGray with his false pretenses. She'd be damned if another man stomped on her heart again.

_**AN: It's my birthday and I can cry if I want to…**_I'm pretty sure the lyrics are it's my party…and in this case its posting…and it's not cause I want to…though I do…but because I have certain people who may make me "disappear" if I don't lol. I'm 18 today, that's exciting, and thought you all would enjoy a new chapter!

So hope you enjoyed and the new one should be up soon!

Kassandra


	5. Lovefool

-1_**WARNING!!! MAJOR ANGST AHEAD!**_

A few of you have asked me to warn you ahead of time in case of angst)of course that was for other stories but I felt the need here)…and I'm just warning you all that this chapter is full of it. So be prepared!

Now you may start reading. Enjoy.

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_Lately I have desperately pondered,_

_Spent my nights awake and I wonder_

_What I could have done in another way_

_To make you stay_

_Reason will not pledge a solution_

_I will end up lost in confusion_

_I don't care if you really care_

_As long as you don't go_

_So I cry, I pray and I beg_

_-The Cardigans_

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_**Part 5: Lovefool**_

She stared at the wall, wincing again when he heard something crash in the kitchen. He'd been up for the last hour moving around in there and she could tell he was trying to keep the noise to a minimum but was failing miserably. Sighing and taking a look at the clock that was on the bedside table she got up and dressed in the clothes from the day before, not in anyway feeling uncomfortable about it. It wasn't the first time she'd worn clothes two days in a row and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Out of the habit she made the bed, making sure everything was in place before folding the borrowed clothes and and grabbed her things to go out to the kitchen. "Morning," she said, wanting to bid him goodbye before she left.

Startled by the new voice, he dropped the pan with a curse and turned to her. "Morning," he said sheepishly. "Did I wake you?"

"No," she laughed. "The pans did."

"Sorry, I was trying to keep it down. Everything's just out of place again. Finn's been up here."

"Ah," she nodded in understanding. "Don't worry about it. I live with Nate who blasts 'The Clash' at three in the morning when he's inspired to paint. I can deal with a few pans clanking against each other. I just wanted to say good bye and thank you."

"When do you have class?"

She frowned at the question. "Uh… not until two… why?"

"Then stay for breakfast. I've already made coffee enough for two."

She bit her lip. "I do need to talk to Colin."

"Colin?" He asked surprised as she slid into the stool at the kitchen bar, watching him with interest as he cooked. "You know where Colin is?"

"Uh…no…," she said slowly. "Doesn't he work here?"

"He does when he decides to show up," Tristan told her, "But more often than not he's MIA."

"Huh."

"Why?"

"It's just I haven't seen him around like I used to. We used to have lunch twice a week and now I'm lucky if I see him at all during the month."

"For an acquaintance you sure do depend on him."

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Acquaintance?" You think Colin and me are acquaintances?"

"That's what Colin said the other night."

"Colin was our next door neighbor," she laughed. "He used to come over to our house all the time, we had a standing play date. Well, he and Serena did. He was turning four when I was born."

"Wait," he said cracking eggs into the skillet. "So you've known Colin your entire life?"

"Sure."

"The way he was telling us, it was like he just met you in high school."

"Nope," she shook her head. "I mean, our friendship was somewhat strained in high school, what with him dating my sister and my sister hating me, but we've known each other our entire life."

"He dated your sister?"

"You claim Colin is one of your best friends and you don't even know about him and Serena?" She asked surprised. Sure Colin hated talking about the hurt Serena had dealt him, but it wasn't something he hid from friends. Hell, if a person got him drunk enough he'd start his 'I hate Serena with every bone in my body' rant. And just before he passed out he'd start his 'Serena is such a slut' rant, both entertaining and informative.

"I know that sometimes when he gets drunk, just before he passes out he murmurs the name Serena, but we never thought much about it. Colin really doesn't talk much about his life in Hartford."

"With good reason," she nodded, "He left on bad terms with a lot of people, myself included."

"What happened?" He asked as he flipped the eggs and put bread in the toaster.

She shifted. "If Colin didn't told you, what makes you think I will?"

Tristan shrugged. "Colin told me about you."

Rory shrugged. "He probably didn't delve too deep. Probably told you the basics," she laughed. "I was quiet in school, wore the same pants and sweaters, was outshined by my sister and followed Jess and Steph like a little puppy." She laughed again. "Jeez, I was pathetic," She shook her head. "High school was hell for me and I was cursed and blessed with the fact that nobody noticed me. I was the person you met and forgot about."

"Bet I would have remembered you in high school," he told her as he slid the eggs onto a plate with already cooked bacon along with a piece of toast and put it in front of her while he served himself and poured the coffee.

"That's nice of you to say," she told him as he slid in across from her, "But I highly doubt that. Guys like you didn't pay me any attention in high school."

"How do you know, you didn't know me in high school."

"Were you Homecoming king?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Were you on the football team?"

"Mhmm. Quarterback my senior year along with captain."

"Won Prom king too, right? Dated the head cheerleader?"

"I was Prom king and the head cheerleader thing didn't last long," he admitted, not liking the line of questioning all of a sudden.

She nodded. "Trust me, had you gone to my high school, you wouldn't have known I existed," she shrugged. "I was invisible."

"I highly doubted that. You're beautiful, amazing to look at, every guy that walked past you would notice you."

"Ha," she snorted. "You're a great liar."

"I wasn't lying," he told her with a puzzled frown marring his features.

"Yeah, you were. It's okay you know," she shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"Used to what?"

"People only talking to me to get to my sister. If you want an in with Serena, all you have to do is ask. You're a good looking guy and she's… got what I don't. You won't even have to work too hard to get her on her back."

"Rory-" he started covering her hand with his.

"Just don't pretend to be my friend," she said quietly, removing her hand from his grip. "I hate being used."

"I'm not using you. I don't even know your sister."

"You got a pretty good look at her the other night. You had to have felt something towards her."

Tristan frowned. "No, I didn't. I'm very selective about the girls I date. It's rare that I'm just in it for the sex, but if I were, I'd know where to look and I wouldn't have trouble getting it either. If I wanted your sister, I would have gotten her on my own, without your help."

"But..." she started.

"But since I don't want your sister, the point is moot, nor am I looking for sex at the moment." He felt annoyance creep up on him. "This is the second time you've assumed things about me, and I really don't take a liking to it."

"Look..."

He cut her off once again. "I judged you the first time I met you and I'm sorry for it, but I'm trying to rectify things by getting to know you. If you're going to keep judging me by my past actions or because of how popular I was during high school or how many friends I have, then I guess this friendship is doomed."

She sighed playing with her food as Tristan waited for her reply. "I'm not used to people wanting to be my friend without ulterior motives. I grew up on the rich side of Hartford and went to public school instead of private with the rest of the rich kids. If people took notice of me, it wasn't because of my popularity status, it was because they wanted to get to Serena, they wanted to somehow get connections with my family, or they wanted to get to Jess and Steph. It was never for me. I've been used before and I've trusted blindly, and it won't happen again," she said looking him in the eye. "I've been fucked over too many times to count and I'm tired of it. So forgive me if I think you have ulterior motives, I'm just used to it."

"Well, we're not in Hartford and I do want to get to know you," Tristan told her, feeling sympathy for her as she focused on her food instead of on him.

"I told you last night I'm not an easy lay."

He frowned. She kept saying that, but he had a feeling that with her social status in school and the way she described herself she hadn't had _any_ dating experience. "Rory," he smirked, "Are you a Mary?"

He watched her stiffen and glare at him. "I hate that name and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that."

"Sorry," he said holding his hands up in defense. "I won't call you that again."

"And if you're so interested in my dating life, why don't you just ask Colin to tell you about it since he seems to be so open with my life."

"I don't want to hear it from Colin, I want to hear it from you."

"Then I guess you won't be hearing it at all since I don't share so easily," she said tapping her fork at the end of her plate. "Is this 'Get to know you breakfast' done, can I go home or do I have to stay here?"

"How can I prove to you that I don't have ulterior motives?" He asked resisting the urge to rub his temples. What the hell was wrong with him? She obviously didn't want to get to know him, so why the hell was he persisting? He usually didn't work this hard to get a girl to show interest in him, then again, girls had never not looked at him with anything but lust in their eyes. It was daunting to see annoyance edged with disgust in hers.

She sighed. "I didn't ask for you to be my friend, Tristan. I don't open up, I don't share my feelings and I'm a real bitch when the mood strikes me. Trust me, you don't want to be my friend."

"Sounds like Paris on a good day. If I can deal with Paris, I can deal with you," he laughed.

"Then it's time to list my faults," she told him seriously, hoping that with her list of problems he'd back off and leave her alone. "I have self-esteem issues, always have and I'm pretty sure I always will, I have a bitch of a sister that tends to get me into a state of depression that only Colin is able to get me out of. Most days I lock myself in my room and cry and when I finally feel better about myself, my parents call and burst my bubble all over again." She took a breath not wanting to look at the surprise and shock on his face. "I have anxiety attacks that have ended up with me bent over the toilet more times than one. I'm the reject of the family because of the fact that I'm not taking over any type of family business but because I want to write mythology books. Still not turned off?" She asked.

"Not in the least," he choked out.

She gritted her teeth. "Leave me alone, Tristan. I don't want a new friend. You want to get to know me, that's me in a nutshell. I live a fucked up life, and trust me, you do _not_ want to get involved. Even Colin is tired of bringing me out of my depression."

"I highly doubt that," he whispered.

"I can see it in his eyes," she told him. "He's sick of coming over, he's tired of reassuring me, He says he got over his Serena issues, he can't see why I can't do that same." She stopped herself and bit her lip before looking at him. "Why do you want to be my friend, Tristan? Why do you insist on it?"

Tristan shrugged. "You intrigue me," he admitted. "Ever since that first night I saw you in the club, I wanted to get to know you."

She shook her head. "The girl in the club isn't me. I'm not her, I'm so far from her."

Tristan shook his head. "No. See, I think she is a part of you, you just don't realize it nor do you let that person get out too much for fear that you'll enjoy it." He laughed. "I took Psych for a couple of semesters."

She laughed. "I'm really fucked up, Tristan, it's not easy being my friend."

"I don't mind it."

"It's even harder gaining my trust," she whispered. "It's even easier to lose it."

"I don't plan on losing your trust, but I hope to gain it," he told her seriously.

Taking a deep breath she nodded. "Just because I'm accepting the fact that you want to be my friend, doesn't mean I'm telling you my entire life story."

"Fine, I'll tell you mine," Tristan smirked. "I was born and raised here in San Diego. I didn't come from a rich family, but we were well-off, enough for me and my siblings to have a small but sizable trust fund that our grandparents set up before they passed which went into opening the club. I have a younger sister Marlee who's a junior at SDSU."

"She's a friend." Rory smiled.

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Rory shrugged. "She's really likable. I met her freshman year and took a liking to her. She earned my trust quickly and she hasn't done anything to lose it yet and I highly doubt she will. Nate has a huge crush on her."

"He is aware she's getting married, right?"

Rory laughed. "Yeah and heartbroken about it." She frowned. "Was that the reason you were getting a tux fitted yesterday, for Marlee's wedding?"

"Yeah," Tristan nodded with a smile. "I'm Fred's best man."

"Oh."

"Why?" He asked.

"No reason, go on." She said waving her hand for him to continue, while mentally smacking herself. Tristan Dugray? Married? She held in the scoff. But then, she mentally frowned wasn't that assuming things again? It was going to take her a while to get out of that habit.

Tristan frowned but nodded as he stood to refill the coffee mugs. "I have an older brother John. He's married, has been for the past twelve years to my sister-in-law Jennifer, who I was talking to yesterday when you came down. They have a son and a daughter, Matthew and Ashley, and are expecting their third any day now."

"You like being an uncle."

He nodded pushing his plate away. "I like spoiling them," he admitted, then went back to the topic at hand. "I graduated from SDSU with honors. I wanted to be a History major and work in Spain as a tour guide, but my dad died a few years back and left me the building. We were sitting around, me, John, Jen, Marlee, Fred, Finn, and Colin, remembering my dad, here in this empty vacant building that my dad bought on a whim years before, and we all of a sudden came up with the idea to open a bar," he shrugged. "The idea was thrown around, then shrugged off, but the more I went to classes and talked to Finn and Colin, the more the bar sounded like a good idea. The idea escalated and we decided to open the club. My trust fund, Finn's savings as well as most of Colin's money went into it. And thus Cupid's Psyche was born."

She bit her lip. "You were a History major?"

"Yep," he nodded, "And an Art major. I planned on moving to Spain for the Prado museum where all the Picassos are housed or Italy for the Vatican. I love the oldness of those cities. We, Finn, Colin and I, traveled after graduating from high school and it made me decide then and there what I wanted to do. So I started off as an Art and History major so I could be either a museum tour guide or just a city tour guide. But then…"

"The club..." She hesitated. "Do you ever regret it? Not going back to do what you wanted?"

Tristan shrugged. "Not really. I'm a bit of a homebody truth be told. I'm not too fond of people most nights. I like working with numbers and I enjoy doing inventory and finding making sure we're actually making a profit. I used to let Colin deal with the people in the club, but lately he'd been sort of flaky, so I've been splitting the promotion aspect of it with Finn. He goes out to the colleges since he still has the personality of a college student. Paris, who's a good friend of mine and a part-time bartender, she's had a hand in the promoting too, infiltrating parties, coming up with contests to hand out free concert tickets while I post posters around town."

Rory scrunched up her nose. "I would hate that. Having to talk people into coming to my club," she shrugged. "It's why I live in a world of fantasy most days."

"Somewhere in your rant you said you wanted to write books. What types of books?"

She shrugged. "I'm a Classics major, much to my parents distaste, but I focus more on mythology, mostly European," she elaborated. "Roman, Greek, Celtic and Irish." She sighed. "I love the Roman and the Greek more though. Same stories but all the different versions. Take Cupid and Psyche for example. One simple story about Eros, the son of Aphrodite and how his mother was so jealous of Psyche because of her beauty that she sent Eros to make her fall in love with the ugliest man in the village, only to fall in love himself. He spurns his mother and takes her as a wife, only to have her betray his trust by looking at him after trusting that she wouldn't. Some stories add in the goddesses Hera and Demeter, while others don't. Some don't even mention how Eros first sees her, but it's an oracles prophecy that sends her to Eros chamber. And some have Eros cry in misery at his mother's feet while others have him disappear from his mother and wife which is said to have caused Aphrodite so much anger towards the young woman."

She looked up from her wrung hands, having been moving them as she spoke and looked up at Tristan's smirking face, and blushed. "Sorry, I tend to get carried away."

"It's, fine go on. I have a feeling you have more to say about just that one story."

She laughed. "I can stop."

"No, go on, I want to hear it."

She bit her lip and nodded. "From a psychological standpoint, you can see Aphrodite's anger as a spurned mother but also as jealousy. It's said that Eros was forever devoted to his mother, she was for all intents and purposes the love of his life. His world revolved around her. But when he fell in love with Psyche and turned his back on his mother, resentment for the girl that not only took the focus of the town she came from away from the goddess of love but the attention of her son added to the reason she was so cruel to Psyche during the tasks. And why animals and insects helped her along since she didn't deserve that type of treatment. It wasn't her fault that she was beautiful, it was her parents' for having good genes," she laughed causing a snort to escape but ignored the amusement in Tristan's eyes. "It wasn't her fault that Eros fell in love with her, it wasn't in her hands but in the hands of the Moirae or the Fates."

"When we talked last, you told me you hated the story, that she was just some suicidal girl that would have killed herself before returning to her husband."

She laughed. "Which is true," she sighed. "But it's still one of my favorite. That one story has more than five different variations of it, just in the Greek culture, then take into account the Roman culture and how the names change, and with the name the stories." She laughed at herself. "Jeez, I'm such a loser."

"No, just passionate," Tristan corrected.

"Hmm, that's debatable."

"So what do you plan on doing with all this knowledge?"

She sighed. "I don't know and I think that's why my parents are so annoyed with my major. They have no idea where I'm going with it. My grandparents humor me," she laughed. "They're always getting me mythology books and sending me to conventions when I'm done there, always getting me brochures or circling jobs that could use my major, more to an annoyance of my mother and father who really wanted me to get into Pre-Law."

Tristan winced. "Really?"

She nodded. "I'm a Hayden. My grandfather, Straub, he's on the Supreme Court and runs Hayden Law Corp., my father is Vice President of the corporation right now, and I was supposed to take over when Serena failed to show interest in Law or Insurance. If I wouldn't take an interest in Law, then I should have taken an interest in insurance to take over the Gilmore Group which is run by my other grandfather. I took summer jobs in both firms at high school and made a good secretary for my grandfathers, but failed miserably at the business end of it, much to the amusement of my grandfathers and annoyance of my parents." She shrugged. "I focus more on gods that may or may not have existed millions of years ago, instead of the laws of New York and Connecticut or death to life ratios which I've read up on and it's morbid."

"See, what you're doing here," he waved a hand between the space between them, "this is sharing."

"No," Rory laughed, "It's not. I talk about my grandparents to anyone, Theirs are the only calls, family wise, that I happily take on my cell phone." She drank the last of her coffee and looked at the time. "Mhmm, it's ten, I have to get going." She stood up gathering her bag and started towards the door. Tristan tried to steer her towards the back, but she was already half way down the stairs. Sighing, he followed her down and out of the office as she greeted Finn.

"You haven't by any chance seen Colin, have you?"

Finn shook his head as Tristan leaned against the bar. "Not since he left after the concert."

Rory frowned. "Have you tried calling his phone?"

Tristan laughed. "We've given up on contacting Colin when he's missing. He comes back in his own time with excuses, does his share of work, then disappears again."

Rory shook her head. "No, last night he left saying he had errands to run. Nate thought it was weird seeing as it was past midnight but he said it was club stuff."

Tristan shook his head. "The last thing I had Colin do was contact my accountant, that was two days ago. We've been going over the numbers for the past few days to see how much we can spend this month, but other than that I haven't sent him out to do anything."

"Then why would Colin lie?" She muttered playing with her keys. She took out her cell phone, making sure she had Colin's number and no missed calls. Nothing. Colin's number was still the same. She recited the number she had to the guys and they confirmed it was the number.

"We don't worry too much about it, love. He'll show up in his own time. Would you like me to have him call you when he does?" Finn asked patting her hand.

She sighed. "Yeah, just to call when he gets the chance. If he calls, just ask if he's contacted the 'good folk'. He'll know what you're talking about and answer."

Finn frowned in confusion but nodded. "Yeah, sure I'll ask."

"Thanks." She turned to Tristan. "My car?"

"In the back." Tristan gestured going back to the office. Rory waved goodbye to Finn before following Tristan out the back and smiled when she saw her car in the exact same condition.

"I have a question," Tristan said rocking back on his heels as she opened the truck and set her bags inside.

"Shoot," she said closing the truck and going to the driver's side.

"Have I earned your trust?"

Rory hesitated in opening the door and turned to him. "Truthfully?"

"Yeah, truthfully," he nodded.

"Then no," she said. She watched him deflate and watched the hurt flash in his eyes. "But you've earned my respect, and that is one step closer to gaining my trust. It's going to be hard to trust you, Tristan. Like I said, my trust is hard won, but it's so easy to lose."

He walked closer to her, her own hurt flashing through her eyes. Lifting his hand, he rested it on her cheek and lifted her face up to his. "Who hurt you Rory Gilmore?" The pain was clearer in her eyes as she pulled away.

"Too many to count," she whispered before getting in her car and closing the door, not leaving any room for discussion. He moved out of the way as she pulled out and watched her leave the back of the club. He wondered when Colin would be back and just how much he could get out of his flaky friend about one blue-eyed girl.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Don't you think I've paid off my debt by now?" Colin asked tapping his fingers on the bar and looking at the blonde man sitting next to him.

The blonde laughed. "Do you actually think that, McCrea? That your debt to me and this club is paid off by some measly errands?"

"I already told you that I'm not giving you any inside information about Cupid's Psyche, Logan. Tristan's my best friend."

"You came into my club," Logan said, anger seeping in through his words, "And worked my employees to get information on my club. I've told you before, you either work for me indefinitely or you give me the information I want and your debt is paid."

Colin shook his head tapping his fingers on the bar. No way in hell was he giving Logan Huntzberger any financial information on Cupid's Psyche for his benefit, even if it did mean having to work for the bastard. Rubbing his eyes he felt the forty eight hours of missing sleep weigh down on him. He shook his head again. "Then I guess I'm working for you indefinitely. But I still work for Tristan, Huntzberger."

Logan chuckled into his scotch glass. "Colin, I really don't think you're in the position to negotiate, given your situation. But I'll give you leeway, seeing as I'm not paying you, and you still owe me a very hefty amount of money and need some sort of paycheck. You'll continue working for DuGray. Your paycheck, of course, is coming to me."

Colin started to argue, but shut his mouth. He still had some trust fund money stashed away for his bills and necessities. He owned the apartment he lived in and really didn't eat much these days anyway, so he nodded, "Fine."

"Good," Logan gestured to the door. "You can go now, I won't need you this week."

Colin nodded, grabbed his jacket and started for the doors, Logan's voice stopping him.

"I hear Serena Hayden is in town."

Colin paused with his door on the door and stiffened. "What about her?"

Logan smirked and pulled out his arsenal. "I hear you dated her. She a good fuck?"

Colin bunched his fist in his pocket to keep from lashing out. Logan had too much over his head, for him to give him the satisfaction of a punch. Instead he scoffed. "I wasn't the one she fucked, so I would be the one to know."

Logan chuckled as the door slammed open the closed with a whisper. "Ah, McCrea, you don't say a word, but you say so goddamn much." The man had to learn how to close his mouth. It was after all what got him into trouble in the first place. Still laughing, he motioned for the bartender to fill his glass. He had a few projects for Colin, he might as well fine-tune the details for when Colin came to call next week.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Colin stalked down the street, trying hard to not turn back to glare at 4-2-9. Instead he kept his gaze firmly on the street as he pounded back to Cupid's Psyche. He'd check in, ask for the night off, then sleep for the next twenty four hours before putting in enough time to at least pay off half of what he owned Huntzberger. If it weren't for the details of his 'punishment', he would have paid off the bastard months ago with his trust fund money. But Logan Huntzberger loved to see people suffer, and suffer was what he had Colin doing.

Walking past Bo without a greeting, he slammed into the club, causing Paris to jump and glare at him.

"What the hell is your problem?" Paris asked.

"You heard me coming," Colin snapped as he fell onto a stool.

"Finn, Tristan, get your asses out here before I strangle your partner," Paris called out, going to the far corner of the bar to avoid Colin and his surly mood.

"Ah, Colin," Tristan smirked. "Nice of you to greet us with your presence."

"Not for long," Colin told him. "Just came to ask for the night off."

Finn laughed as he lifted up the bar partition to get behind the bar. "And since when do you ask for the night off?"

"What?"

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Finn just means that you've gone missing from work without asking for permission before. What's got you changed?"

Colin tapped his fingers. "Just thought it was common courtesy is all."

Tristan nodded. "It usually is when you put in a solid effort work, actually show up for work. If you weren't a partner, I'd fire your ass."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Tristan nodded sitting next to his friend. "And the fact that we've been friends since high school is the reason I haven't bought you out. You've been flaky, Colin, shirking from your duties to the club and not putting in the effort you used to. You don't have the commitment or the drive for Cupid's like you had in the first few years."

"I've just been busy…" Colin said. He wasn't exactly lying, he had been busy.

"With what?"

"I can't…" he sighed. "I really can't tell you."

"Paris, love," Finn said noticing the defeat in Colin's eyes, "Why don't you count inventory in the back?"

"Because I did it last night at closing," she said annoyed.

"Well then, why don't you do it again?" Finn said sternly.

"Let's get something straight, Morgan, you're not my boss, Tristan is."

"Paris, inventory," Tristan ordered glaring at his friend.

Glaring back she stalked to the back room, muttering about dictators and how Tristan resembled Hitler.

Shaking his head Finn leaned towards Colin. "Colin, mate, are you in some sort of trouble?"

"What?!" Colin asked straightening. "No, of course not. I've just been busy with my own personal crap."

"You lied to Rory, mate."

Colin frowned. "What?"

"The night of the concert three days ago, Colin, you told her you had club errands to run. I didn't send you out to do anything for the club. And if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't have you doing it at one in the morning when you're supposes to be here helping out."

"You told us you had errands to do," Finn told him. "We didn't pry, but you're lying to another friend."

"Rory told me something a few days ago," Tristan said looking at Colin carefully. "I asked her if she trusted me, and she said her trust was hard-won, but so easy to lose. Colin, answer me something. The errands you're running, would you lose Rory's trust over them?"

Colin shook his head vigorously. "No," he rubbed his eyes. God, he was so tired. "No, I can't lose her trust again. I just got it back, I can't lose that again."

Tristan frowned. "Go upstairs and get some sleep. man, you look like hell. We'll talk when you're more rested."

"I, uh, was going to go back to my place, my car is out back," Colin said.

"No, you look like you'd fall asleep at the wheel," Tristan told him. "And I have too many questions to ask to have you killing yourself when you run into a tree. Go upstairs, take a shower, because you reek worse than our dumpsters out back, and get some sleep."

"Yeah, okay," Colin nodded getting up.

"Colin," Finn said, causing Colin to stop again.

"Yeah?"

"Not to burden you more, but Rory asked for you to call her when you get the chance. She asked if you had called the 'good folk', said you knew what she meant."

"Fuck," he muttered hitting the top of his head. He sat back down and pulled out his cell phone. He's already gone past the two day minimum he'd given Nate. Thank god he hadn't passed the week or Rory would have started wondering what was up. Going through his phone book, he quickly dialed the person he knew would get Serena out of Rory's dorm in a heartbeat.

"Hayden residence."

"Colin McCrea for Straub Hayden, tell him it's urgent."

"Just a minute, please," the maid told him as he was put on hold. Tristan and Finn looked at him in interest.

"Colin? Is Rory alright?"

"Hello Straub," he sighed. "Rory's... doing... okay," he said slowly. "But... Serena's decided to pay us all a visit."

"Oh dear Lord, what is she up to?" Straub asked annoyed.

"She seems to have taken a liking to Rory's dorm. And, well, it's wreaking havoc on Rory's nerves. She hates her life as it is… this is only making it spiral down even worse."

"Of course, of course. Have you looked up apartments for me then, seeing as you took care of the last situation?"

Colin winced. "No, I haven't. I've had a lot on my plate, sir. But I could look some up in the next hour, find one to Serena's liking and standards and call you back."

"You do know Serena best."

"Unfortunately," he muttered, feeling his heart ache and annoyed that he still felt that. "Would you like me to do that?"

"No, no, that's fine, just give me what she likes. I'll find something, call my realtor. I've wanted to get Rory and Nate out of those dorms anyway. I'll look into something for them as well."

"Serena should be across town, as far away from SDSU as possible," Colin told him. "A loft would be more to her liking, she'd like the space." God, it hurt that he still remembered all this."Uh, furniture, Ikea is more to her liking. Transfer me some money and I'll shop for furnishings myself if that helps."

"Colin, I know how this must pain you."

"No, you really don't, Straub. Let me know what you find, and if you transfer money, I'll settle the details as soon as possible."

"You care for Rory."

"Like you wouldn't believe," he muttered.

"Hmm, I'll spend the afternoon with Francine looking for the loft. She'll be out of the dorms by tomorrow. She'll have to wait for the furniture, of course, until you find the time to get it, but assure Rory that my tomorrow after her two o'clock class her sister won't be bothering her anymore."

"She'll know," Colin nodded. "Thanks Straub."

"Hmm, I just feel sorry for the Gilmores, seeing as the next problem that occurs with Serena, it's their turn to handle it. I wonder how much it'll cost them."

"Yeah, I wonder."

"I'll call you later, Colin, thanks again."

"Sure," he said hanging up and looking at his two friends. "Tell Rory I called and tomorrow is the deadline."

"Colin," Tristan said, "One of the things I want to talk to you about is your involvement with Serena."

"How do you know about that?"

"Me and Rory talked. She just told me that you dated her sister, nothing more than that."

"I didn't just date Serena, Tristan," Colin said walking towards the office. "I fucking loved her." He closed the office door and started up to the apartment. Going into the guest bedroom, he stripped down to his boxers and slipped into the bed and closed his eyes, trying to find the comfort of sleep that had eluded him for the past forty eight hours, only to have his eyes snap open and stare at the wall.

He hated himself for remembering his year with Serena. It was completely pointless, the entire relationship had been a lie. He'd ruined so many friendships defending the slut, only to have her throw it back in his face. He hated himself for pining over her, he hated himself for remembering every single detail about her, and he hated himself even more that whenever Rory needed help getting rid of Serena, he was there furnishing her fucking apartments and picking them out, seeing as he was the one that knew her best.

He turned on his side to look out the window. He knew she liked open spaces, thus the reason for lofts or studios instead of apartments. He knew she liked large windows, so that when it rained, she could stand by them and watch, her arms crossed over her chest or her hands wrapped over a mug of coffee, a small smile on her face. Rain brought the vulnerable side of her out, the side only he saw. God, at least he knew that was true. It'd hurt so much more if he found out more saw that side of her, a side so rare.

Rubbing his face he turned back on his back to stare at the ceiling. "Get over her," he muttered to himself. "Fuck her, forget about her and throw her away just like she did you." The saddest part was that no matter how many times he told himself to do that, he couldn't. No matter how many other guys she fucked, no matter that she had most definitely moved on with her life. He still remained the only man that had made Serena Hayden cry, and by god that had to mean something.

Finally feeling a bit of peace, he closed his eyes and finally fell into the deep slumber he'd been deprived.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Do you think he's awake?" Finn asked as they closed the door behind the last clubber at four in the morning and locked up.

"Should be," Tristan said waving Paris to leave the empty glasses on the bar. "Don't worry about it, Paris, me and Finn'll do it later, you can head home."

"All right, if you're sure. I don't mind clearing."

"If you're clearing, it means me and Finn have to help and we need to talk to Colin. Colin can clear in the morning without help, seeing as he needs to put in some manual labor."

Paris smirked. "If you insist. We still on for later, Finn?"

"I'll meet you at the beach 'round noon," he told her. "And bring some talent. You fell off your board three times last time."

"Yeah," Paris laughed throwing the rag she'd been cleaning the counter with. "My three compared to your five, I think you're the one that needs to bring the talent."

"How I love you, Geller love."

"I still hate you, Finn," Paris sang as she went out through the back. Tristan locked the back door in his office behind her, making sure her car left the parking lot before he and Finn headed upstairs. They weren't as surprised as they should have been to see Colin awake and sitting in the living room, a glass of whiskey in his hand and staring out the window.

"Colin?" Tristan asked as he sat on the chair next to him and Finn on the table in front of him.

Colin blinked, focused and sighed as he noticed Tristan and Finn.

"How long have you been awake?" Finn asked.

"About an hour." Colin muttered, downing the rest of his whiskey, then hissing as it burned on its way down. "I woke up and kept fucking seeing her. I can't get away from her, no matter how hard I try." Shaking his head he looked at Tristan. "I really don't want to talk about Serena, but what do you want to know?"

"What happened?" Tristan asked.

Colin scoffed. "That's a loaded question," he laughed. "God, so much happened." He rubbed a hand over his face. "From the beginning?"

Finn nodded. '"I'm guessing that's the best place to start."

Colin sighed. "I was next door neighbor to the Haydens. Gilmore-Haydens I should say. I was born a few months before Serena, and we had a standing play date every Saturday when our mothers would met for brunch, our fathers would play golf and we'd play house. She wasn't always a bitch you know. She was… can be… one of the nicest people. But as she grew older and Rory came in to play, she hated the attention her parents gave her baby sister. She was used to the attention being on her, her mother telling her she was pretty. She was all of a sudden not the center of her parents' world anymore. So she lashed out at Rory. She was so cruel to Rory." He shook his head. "When it was raining, she'd take Rory outside and leave her there, shutting the door and locking herself for hours in her room, watching out the window until someone found her. She'd lock her in closets and in the pantry, so that for those few moments in time when Rory was "missing" her parents doted on her and she was an only child again."

Colin shook his head. "We all grew up together and even though she grew more cold-hearted and played with Rory, I couldn't help but be infatuated with her. God, I'm such an idiot. I followed her around like a fucking puppy dog. If we were in the same class, I made sure we sat together, I made sure we were grouped together on projects, but she didn't notice me, not like that. I was always just Colin her friend, Colin the shoulder to cry on when some adolescent boy broke her heart, Colin the person to bitch to when Rory took the limelight again."

"What happened?" Tristan asked, feeling the need to keep Colin on track.

Colin shrugged. "I don't know, but one day she finally took notice of me as more than a friend or a shoulder to cry on and we started dating during our sophomore year of high school," he smirked. "It was Valentine's day, and I got her a gift. And she just looked at me and it's like she realized that I had been waiting for her the entire time. By this time, Rory was no longer in the spotlight with her parents, Serena had stolen it back from her. At school she played with Rory's self-esteem, and almost as Rory started middle school her parents jumped on the bandwagon. But I never really noticed, I was so blind with Serena, so goddamned blind, that I was finally with her that I complete forgot about Rory." Colin paused and shook his head.

"About six months in, we had sex for the first time, with each other anyway. She got pregnant."

Colin rubbed his chest. "She freaked and didn't tell me until after she'd thrown herself down the stairs." He rubbed harder, the pain still there. "She had Rory push her, made Rory push her." He licked his lips. "She told me later what she had done and I was so pissed, I was hurt that she didn't let me decide. It was my baby too and she acted so selfishly, but… she apologized and said she had been afraid and didn't know what else to do. We weren't ready to be parents no matter what I said, so she did what she thought best for all of us, tricked her little sister into pushing her down the stairs so she'd miscarry."

"Colin man, stop," Tristan said, seeing how much the story was paining his best friend now. "You don't have to go on."

But Colin forged on, the next few events playing so clearly in his mind as he recounted them. "We stayed together because I loved her like an idiot and because she needed me. But after that she started pulling away from me a bit, acting cold and started hiding things, canceling dates, making up excuses not to be with me. I started hearing rumors going around that when she wasn't with me, she was with other guys and I laughed them off, telling everyone that they were wrong and that Serena and my relationship was going strong. But I started hearing it more and more from guys so I confronted Rory about it, hoping she'd just humor me and tell me it wasn't true, that Serena was just with me and no one else."

"It was true," Finn whispered.

Colin swallowed and nodded. "I hated Rory for not lying to me, so I yelled at her, called her names, and threw out words that I knew would hurt her like her words hurt me. She said that Serena had been cheating on me since we had gotten together a year before, that the reason she'd really miscarried was because she didn't know who the father was and didn't want me to find out she'd been unfaithful. She didn't want me to leave her. I yelled at Rory, called her a liar, and told her everything her parents and Serena said about her was true. And it hurt her. 'You've lost me, Colin,' she told me, 'You've lost me, good luck getting me back' and she walked away."

He looked at Tristan then. "You have no idea how much it hurts to lose so many important things to you at once. Rory's trust is so precious and fragile," he whispered. "And when you have it, you protect it, making sure you don't fumble it and fuck up. It only takes one thing to lose Rory. It hadn't help that she found out her boyfriend had been using her at the same time I found out Serena had been cheating on me, then me throwing everything that was supposedly wrong with her in her face. I lost her trust and it's taken years to get it back."

"What happened with Serena?" Finn asked.

Colin sighed. "On our anniversary she made up some dumbass excuse of her being sick so we couldn't go out. On Valentine's day I didn't want to believe Rory, so I went next door and walked in seeing as I practically lived there. I went to her room and…" he shook his head. "God, I remember this, all of this so clearly. I remember I saw her on top of some other guy. She saw me, covered up and begged me to stay while the other guy left. I stayed, he left. She tried to explain, but I asked her how long. She kept coming up with excuses, how her parents put so much pressure on her, her grandparents, and I asked her how long. She started crying, not fake tears like I'd seen her use on her parents, the ones that she'd carefully planned so that she'd get sympathy but not ruin her makeup. No, she cried real tears, ones that had her mascara running down her cheeks and she begged me to stay."

"You left," Tristan stated.

Colin looked at him. "I called her a slut, then I left her crying in her bedroom. I passed Rory on the way down, she was leaning against the door to her room, arms over her chest, staring at me. I started towards her to apologize, but she shook her head and took a step back." Colin smirked. "She said 'Congratulations, Colin McCrea, you are officially the only person that has made Serena Hayden cry.' And with sympathy she went to Serena's room and comforted her sister. The sister that left her outside in the rain when she was a baby, the sister that locked her in closets and pantries, the sister that called her fat and ugly and that she didn't deserve to have the Hayden-Gilmore name. The sister that cheated on her devoted boyfriend for a year, only to cheat on him with her sister's boyfriend. Yet Rory still went to her and held her as she cried," Colin scoffed. "And I'm still the fool that loves Serena Hayden."

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

Serena lay on her sister's bed, staring at the ceiling. She heard Nate come in about an hour ago, talking on his phone with her sister. Rory had been wise enough to stay away from the dorm the entire week, coming in only to grab a set of clothes while she was still asleep, then leave again.

It was better off that way, Serena thought. It saved energy for her to focus on other things, rather than to waste it insulting Rory. Rory's reliable reaction of crying or anxiety attacks were losing their appeal and Serena was after a new form of entertainment. She needed a boy toy, something she could play with to entertain her, while Rory's misery became appealing again.

She had just started going through the mental list of eligible bachelors in the San Diego area when her cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID she noticed her grandpa Hayden calling. Looked like saint Colin had called in favors once again.

"Hello?" She answered.

"What's this I hear about you staying at your sister's dorm?" Her grandfather demanded to know.

"It's just until I get settled, grandpa," Serena said, boredom evident in her voice.

"Well, you're going to get settled tomorrow. I've found you a loft on the other side of town."

Yep, that was Colin's work. The other side of town and lofts. He knew her well. "Tomorrow you say?"

"Yes, tomorrow. I have someone arranging for furniture, but I want you out of your sister's dorm by tomorrow afternoon, do you understand me?"

"Grandpa, how do you expect me to live? I mean sure I have a loft and all that, but until I get work here in San Diego I have no means of support."

"Don't feign innocence, Serena, I've transferred money into your account, enough to get you by until you find work. Make good use of it, seeing as I won't give you a penny more. Tomorrow afternoon, Serena, and if I hear you stayed a minute past two, I will bring you back to Hartford so fast your head will spin. Do you understand me?"

Knowing that grandpa Hayden had much more authority than her own parents she nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good, sleep well and though I doubt you'll see her, tell Rory to give me a call."

"Yes sir," Serena gritted out. Getting out of bed, she scrounged for a post-it and a pen, wrote down a quick note and posted it on the closet for Rory to see in the morning. Hopefully the thought would get recognized and she'd win an extra two grand from her grandfather. Climbing back into bed, she ran her hand over her neck fingering the heart pendant that lay on her chest. She gave a quivering sigh, before closing her eyes and started her mental list of eligible bachelors once again.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

_**A.N. **_Sorry for the lack of Roryness, but Serena and Colin play a BIG part in later chapters. So I wanted to get their story out. Hope you enjoyed!

Kassandra


	6. You've Got a Friend in Me

-------------------------------------------

_You've got a friend in me  
If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too  
There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you  
We stick together and can see it through  
Cause you've got a friend in me  
You've got a friend in me_

_-Randy Newman_

-------------------------------------------

_**Part 6: You've Got a Friend in Me**_

Serena stood in the middle of the dorm room, the last of the clothes she'd thrown around being packed. Colin had interfered once again, and it was starting to piss her off. Colin never came to her rescue anymore, so why the hell did he continue going to Rory's? She hated not being the center of his universe anymore, and hated that Rory seemed to have taken that spot.

"No," she heard Nate laugh from the common room, where he'd been painting, watching her pack her stuff from the corner of his eye. "I'm pretty sure I can kick Rory out of the room for the night so we can have a poker night." She watched him nod and laugh again. "Yeah, I'll clear the paintings to make room, just bring over your poker table, and I'll get Rory to do some shopping, and make sure we have some eats… No, no, it's Paul's turn to do the beers runs."

She tuned out and tapped her fingers in her chin in thought. Nate was kicking her out, huh? "Not if I kick her out first," Serena said to herself quietly. Looked like making Rory's life miserable was back to entertaining.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Where is he?" Rory asked, rushing into Cupid's Psyche and dropping her messenger bag near the bar. Tristan looked over at her slowly while Finn smirked. Rory looked at them with a frown. Tristan's look was closed off while Finn's smirk wasn't quite as full as it usually was. "He didn't leave, did he?" She asked, worried that she'd missed him.

"No," a voice coming from the office said. "I'm right here."

"Oh Colin," Rory said going over to him and hugging him. "Oh, you look like crap."

Colin snorted. "Thanks, Ror."

She touched his cheek. "I came over to thank you. She was out by the time I got out of my last class like promised. So thank you for coming to my rescue, yet again."

"Sure," Colin nodded, pulling away from her embrace and sitting at the bar next to Tristan.

Rory frowned at him and turned. "This is where you say, 'You're welcome, Rory, but don't expect me to do it again' or 'No problem, Rory, anything to get Serena out of your hair."

"Whisky," Colin said looking at Finn and avoiding Rory.

"I don't serve yet, mate, you're going to have to wait or serve yourself with the boss's permission."

Colin looked at Tristan expectantly who sighed. "Colin, man, just take it easy."

Colin nodded leaning over and grabbing the decanter of whisky from its usual position as well as a glass and took it upstairs to the higher level of the club.

"Colin," Rory whispered, trying to grab his arm, but he skirted around her and continued walking. She looked at the two men looking over at him. "What happened to him?"

Tristan hesitated. "Well, we sort of pried and he told us about Serena."

Rory sat next to Tristan at the bar as Finn leaned in. "So, he's told a lot of people about him and Serena."

Fin bit his lip before looking at Rory. "He told us _everything,_ love."

Rory hesitated this time, looking between Tristan and Finn. "Everything?"

"From start to finish," Tristan nodded.

"So he told you, guys, what Serena made me do?" She whispered.

"You were young, Rory, it's not your fault," Tristan started.

She shook her head. "The thing that hurts most is that I was positive the baby was Colin's," she whispered. "But she didn't want to lose him if it wasn't."

Finn sighed. "Your life seems like it was hell."

Rory scoffed. "If there were anything worse than hell, that would be my life." She looked at the top story, ready to go up and talk to Colin when her cell phone rang. Taking it out of her pocket, she smiled when she saw it was Nate. "Yes?"

"Where are you?" he asked frantically.

"Uh… Cupid's, I told you before I left."

"Rory..." Nate hesitated.

"Oh god, what happened?" she asked, "Jess? Steph? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, babe," Nate said quickly. "But… An administrator came to the dorm today."

Rory frowned. "What?"

"He didn't say much, but he sort of looked around, and he lingered pretty long looking into your room."

"Who would-" she trailed off, knowing exactly just who would tip off administrators to her living with Nate. "Serena."

"She did leave pretty happy with herself. She was on the phone for a while, but I was talking to Mike about this weekend, so I really wasn't paying attention."

"I'm on my way," Rory said, "I just have to talk to Colin."

"All right, Rory, if they did find out, this is grounds for expulsion, on both our parts."

"Then it's good we have a clear record, isn't it?" She said before hanging up.

"Everything okay?" Tristan asked.

Rory shrugged. "I'm not sure. Nate thinks administrators might have been tipped off that I'm living with him. I have to go down there in a few minutes. I just need to talk to Colin for a minute." She started going, but Tristan grabbed her arm to pull her back.

"Just let him be for now, Rory, he's hurting."

"I need to talk to him."

"I'm not letting you go up there," Tristan said firmly, keeping her arm in his grasp when she tried to pull away. "He's my friend too, all you're going to do by going up there, is make him remember more, and it's just going to hurt him. Let it go, go deal with your own situation and let Colin brood."

Rory hesitated, looking up at the top layer, before nodding. "Tell him I'll be back. We need to talk."

"We can talk now," Colin said, leaning against the rail.

"Colin!" Tristan warned.

"We talk now," Colin said looking at Rory, "Or not at all." He turned away from the rail and disappeared.

Rory bit her lip, but nodded. "All right." She put Finn in charge of her phone and went up to the top balcony. She saw him sitting at the table against the wall in the darkest corner. She sat across from him and rested a hand on his arm.

"What's up with you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that whenever you get Serena out of my hair, I come to thank you and every time we have the exact same conversation. You say something along the lines of 'You're welcome' and then start your pacing and your 'Serena is such a bitch' rant which is very similar to your 'Serena is such a slut' rant, both amusing in their own rights."

"I'm tired, Rory," he whispered, playing with his glass before looking at her through bloodshot brown eyes. "So tired of having to save you."

"Excuse me?" She pulled her hand away and sat up straight.

"You have no idea how much it hurts having to call your grandparents to ask them to relocate Serena or how much it hurts having to furnish those fucking apartments for her. Why? Because I'm Colin, the one that knows her best."

"Every time you do it, I thank you."

"A 'thank you' isn't enough anymore, Rory. You're used to asking me to do it, you're used to apologizing to me for having to rehash every single detail of me and Serena by doing this. And now, every time Serena comes to call, you tell me to move her, you remind me to call the grandparents and assume a thank you is enough."

"So you want me to beg?" She asked crossing her arms. "Beg you to do me favors that I know you'd do willingly?"

"The first time I did it, I did it because I felt for you, Rory," he hissed. "I did it because at that moment we both shared the pain that Serena had caused. Now you're taking advantage of me that way Serena did."

"That's not true and you know it," Rory seethed. "Just because I don't stand up to my parents or to my sister doesn't mean I won't stand up to you. I'm not some spineless worm that you can say all this crap to and expect me to take it. Not once have I taken advantage of you the way Serena did, so don't ever compare me to her!' She warned. "I've always made sure you made those calls for me willingly. I don't know the pain it causes you," she mimicked. "Trust me, your pain isn't half of what mine is."

She got up and turned, but his voice rang out through the club, causing her to pause and turn back.

"Bullshit, Rory."

"She looked at him from over her shoulder. "What?"

"Bullshit, you still protect Serena, the way you protected her when I broke up with her."

"No, I don't."

"When you found her at your dorm, you could have very well slammed the door in her face, the way she did you," Colin told her loudly, standing up.

"She said she'd tell my parents that I was living with Nate."

Colin scoffed. "Please and how would that benefit Serena, Rory? Both of you know Lorelai and Chris could care less if you were living with Nate, and could care less about you."

"Shut up." She glared, tears starting to prickle the back of her eyes. "Shut up, Colin, before you say something you're going to regret."

"Serena doesn't care about you or me!" Colin shouted. "So why do you keep going back to her!"

"Because I want her to love me!" Rory shouted, covering her mouth and causing Collin to sit up.

"Rory..." Colin said quietly.

"Leave me alone, Colin," Rory said quickly and quietly as she started walking away. "You got your reason, so just leave me alone." She went back down the stairs, and grabbed her bag and cell phone from Finn.

"Rory..." Tristan said.

She looked up and sighed. They had heard and she hated that they had. "What?" She snapped.

Tristan blinked. "Call if administration found out about you and Nate. You can crash in my guest bedroom," he said slowly, as if thinking about his words.

"Oh." She frowned, having lost her concentration and focus at the curve ball. "Right, well… I will. Call." She frowned and mentally hit her forehead, before she hurried out of the club.

Finn laughed. "Poor girl, she hates when people state the obvious and gets frustrated when they don't." Shaking his head he looked at Tristan. "Think they'll get expelled?"

Tristan shrugged. "Let's hope not. Rory and Nate don't seem to be the people who are troublemakers like we were," he said looking at Finn. "So they should just get a slap on the hand."

Finn nodded, looking over where Colin was brooding, hoping to god Tristan was right.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"Miss Hayden."

Rory turned just as she was putting her key in the lock and sighed. "You're from administration, aren't you?"

The man nodded. "Please follow me."

Rory nodded as she followed the man towards the dean's office. Ten minutes later she found herself sitting next to Nate in front of the dean.

"We heard that for the past two years you've been living with Mr. Harris."

Rory bit her lip and nodded. "I have. I want you to understand, sir, that we had every intention of getting the room assignments fixed when I first started here, but Nate's such a great guy that I couldn't help but befriend and want to live with him."

"While I don't doubt Mr. Harris's wonderful personality, we do have rules here and we do uphold a strict no co-ed rooming. And while we are well aware that you two aren't the only ones who are in this situation, we can't catch them all and we do take action when we have a reason to believe it's happening." He looked down at the folder in front of him. "You and Mr. Harris have an unblemished record, so I'm not expelling you both."

Rory and Nate let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir," Nate said gratefully.

"But I must ask that miss Hayden move out of the dorm room upon finding a new residence. The girls dorms are full, so I'll give you a week to find an apartment, Miss Hayden. I will be checking the room myself on Friday."

Rory bit her lip but nodded. "I understand."

"Good, you may go." The dean waved his hand in dismissal as they got up and started to leave. Rory resisted the urge to ask who had ratted them out. It couldn't have been any of the guys, they all loved her like a sister and had never complained about her being there. She didn't talk to any girls but Stephanie, so she didn't have any enemies in the school that she knew about. Not being able to resist she turned.

"Dean, if I may ask, who told you I was living with Nate?"

"A…" he raised an eyebrow. "I can only assume it's a relation of yours, Serena Hayden?"

"Thank you, sir," she said between clenched teeth.

"You all right?" Nate asked, hugging her close to his side as they walked back to what was now his dorm.

"No," Rory whispered. "I'm going to kick her ass when I see her."

"Ror..."

She shook her head. "Leave it alone, Nate. Tristan offered me his guest room, so I'm just going to pack some clothes and head over there tonight."

"Come on, Ror, you've got a week."

She shook her head as he opened the door to the dorm. "I'm going, Nate. I'll be back tomorrow for the rest of my stuff. You were going to kick me out for the night anyway, right?" She asked looking up at him before going to her room. "It's poker night."

"Steph is going to wonder where you are if you don't show up."

Rory shrugged. "I have stuff to do. I'll call her later and explain."

"I'll start looking for a place, okay, babe? An apartment for the two of us?"

Rory nodded. "I'd like that." She stuffed clothes into an overnight bag. "Have fun tonight."

"You sure you don't need a ride?" Nate asked, worried about her calm demeanor.

"I'm fine, Nate. I'll call Tristan and let him know what's going on. I'll stay in the room, do homework till I go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow in class, okay?"

Nate nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay." She got on her tiptoes, kissed his cheek and started on her way. She got her keys out of her pocket, unlocking the door to her car as she got in. She took out her cell phone and dialed Tristan's number, wanting to make sure it was all right to bunk down for a while before heading out.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**_

"I want to thank you again, Tristan, you didn't have to do this."

"It's what friends are for, Rory," Tristan told her. "Stay as long as you want."

She raised an eyebrow as she sat on the bed. "You're going to get sick of me within the week."

"Doubt it."

She laughed. "You will. Trust me."

"I won't," Tristan assured. "Make yourself at home. I have a limited amount of food in the fridge, I haven't been out to buy food in a while. If you eat anything in particular, write it down and I'll go grab it tomorrow."

"I'm not pickey."

"I... uh… barely cook," Tristan said rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I usually just go out with Finn and Colin for a bite to eat before we open."

"I can cook," Rory laughed. "How about I go get food tomorrow and I'll cook dinner? It's the least I could do for letting you stay here. Well, that and pay half the rent."

Tristan laughed. "I don't pay rent on this place. It's part of the club, which I own."

"Well, let me pay some sort of fee, Tristan. I may have to stay till the end of the semester. Nate's parents would kill him if he left the dorms now after spending the money on board."

He shrugged. "It's fine, Rory. Like I said, stay as long as you want and need to. If you really feel the need to pay me back, then why don't you cook during the weekdays and get groceries?"

"What about utilities?"

Tristan sighed as he leaned against the door frame and stared at her. "It's all part of the club, the electricity, gas, trash and unfortunately phone, which I am seriously thinking of cutting off, are all part of Cupid's bills."

"Cable?"

"Cable is my own guilty pleasure, therefore I'll pay for it. Rory, seriously, I don't care. Get the groceries and cook, I wouldn't mind a home-cooked meal. To me that's us calling it even."

Roy laughed. "That is far from even. But I can tell you're not going to budge, so fine."

"Okay, now that that's settled, how about you come downstairs. Colin's still there."

"Is he drinking?" She asked quietly.

"We cut him off after you left earlier."

Rory nodded as she got up and followed Tristan downstairs. She noticed Colin sitting at the bar, his chin resting on his hands, looking quite glum. Rory sighed. While Colin was more held tighter than she was, he got in his moods as well, that could be a lot worse than hers. Sitting next to him, she laid her head on his.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he said equally quietly staring at the doors, while Tristan went to talk to Finn and Paris who were cleaning the bar.

"You okay?"

Colin shrugged. "Been better. I'm sorry about earlier."

"You needed to get it out. I'm sorry if I've been using you."

Colin sighed and turned his head slightly to look at her. "You haven't, Rory, I'm just so fed up with this Serena shit you know. I'm frustrated with myself at not being able to let her go."

"I get it, Colin, don't think I don't. Wanna go lie down? 'Cause you really do look like shit."

Colin laughed wearily. "Yeah, I probably do; not sleeping forty eight hours will do that. I think I'm going to head back to my place and just…"

Rory nodded. "Yeah."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Turns out Serena doesn't like it when the attention is on me."

"No?!" Colin said in mock surprise.

"She called administration and tipped them off about me and Nate. I got kicked out."

"Well, then my job is done," a female voice lilted through the quiet club.

Rory and Colin looked up to see Serena standing at the entrance, her large Chanel glasses covering her eyes, jeans low on her slender hips and a white ribbed tank top just barely reaching her midsection.

"Who's this slut?" Paris asked as Finn and Tristan stared at Rory's sister.

"What are you doing here, Seri?" Colin asked with a sigh as he stood up. He frowned when he saw Rory's fists clench and unclench. Whenever Serena made her appearance, Rory would usually bow her head and hide from her. Now Rory was glaring at her sister dead on.

"I wanted to make sure my little sister had a place to stay. I mean… she is homeless, is she not?"

"Just leave, Seri, you have your apartment, you've messed with Rory and me, you've done your job."

"Oh come on, Colin," Serena laughed as she walked towards them. "You can't expect me just to lie down and let all this play out. You know I like to watch my handiwork up close. Though I was a bit disappointed. I tend to forget that Rory has friends outside of her little circle. When I found out she was here, well…" Serena shrugged. "I had to do something. By the way, Rory, I had an interesting conversation with Dean today."

"You bitch!" Rory screamed, lunging towards her sister. Colin caught Rory by the waist just as Rory had gotten a handful of her sister's hair.

"Rory!" Colin yelled, holding on to her middle making Rory loosen her grip. He watched Serena actually take a step back, a hint of fear in her eyes. "You crossed the line, Serena, leave!"

"Let me go!" Rory yelled kicking up to get to her sister. "What you did could have gotten me expelled!"

Serena shrugged. "Which would have added to my amusement, just like your birthday. Sixteen, was it?"

"Let me go!!!" Rory screamed kicking even harder now, pure hatred in her eyes as she glared at her sister. "I hate you! I fucking hate you!"

"Ror, calm down!" Colin said into her ear, holding on tight. He glared at his ex. "You did what you came to do. Now leave before I have security escort you out."

Serena shrugged carelessly. "I'll just see you at Thanksgiving, sis."

Colin felt Rory tremble in rage as she glared at her sister.

"Oh, and Colin, if you need me, I'll be at Logan's. I believe you know the place well."

"Leave!" Colin yelled just as Bo made his entrance, having been called by Tristan.

Serena lifted a brow before turning on her heel and leaving. Colin tightened his hold until he was sure Serena was out of Rory's reach before letting her go.

"Rory..." Colin sighed, putting a hand on her arm.

She shrugged her arm away from his touch. "Don't touch me right now."

"Ror!"

"I'm going upstairs," she whispered shaking her head.

"Wow," Finn muttered as she disappeared.

"She's never actually psychically attacked," Colin said. "I'm usually the one fighting the battles between the two. But then again, Serena's never actually crossed the line that far before. Rory's really passive when it comes to her sister."

"She's learning to stand up for herself," Tristan told him.

Colin shrugged as he put on his jacket. "Maybe, I doubt it though. I'm off." He looked towards the door Rory had disappeared through and sighed. "She's going to be in a mood, just let her go through it, she'll be fine in a few hours. She was trembling pretty hard when I held on to her, just… don't make any sudden movements," he half joked. "I'll call later."

Tristan debated on whether to go up and see if Rory was okay or let her stew. Catching Finn's eye, he decided to head to his office and keep his ears open for any distressing sounds.

_**XxxxxxxxxxxX**_

She didn't want to pace, she sat down at the desk and opened her book for her Mythology class and closed it again. Walking to the bed she threw herself on top of it, covering her eyes with her arms, biting her lip hard.

"Don't let her get to you," she whispered, her soft voice echoing off the walls. "She's not worth it, everything worked out, everything's fine."

Her leg bounced up and down in agitation as she heard her sister's words ring through her head. _"I had an interesting conversation with Dean today."_

Though she knew it wasn't possible Serena had talked to her ex since the day Colin had caught them in bed together, it still hurt. She hadn't been as blind as Colin back in high school, she'd known her boyfriend was cheating on her. She knew that he was just using her to get to Serena. But for once in her life a bit of the attention was being doted on her. And she liked it.

Biting her lip, she rolled on her side and stared out the window. She'd made the stupid mistake of loving him, innocently thinking that he'd forget about her sister and love her back. Biting her lip she hugged the pillow to her body and squeezed her eyes tightly closed.

"_Do you even have an ounce of remorse? Just a hint of regret?"_

"_No, not really."_

A choked sob escaped her lips as she curled herself tighter into a ball. Wishing herself to sleep, soon enough she found herself in the midst of a dream. She was fifteen and at the elder Haydens' house.

"_Oh Rory! Don't you look magnificent!" Her grandma Francine gushed hugging her tight._

_Her grandparents were her only solace, the ones that actually turned their backs on her older sister and paid her the attention her parents didn't. She saw her sister glare at her as her grandparents crowded around her, leaving Serena out._

"_Thanks, grandma," Rory smiled as she hugged both grandfathers and grandmothers._

"_Tell me, Rory, have you decided what college to attend, I'll give Princeton a call," Straub said._

"_Yale, Rory, be a bulldog," Richard teased._

"_Oh gramps, you know it's Harvard all the way."_

_Her grandparents all gave a teasing groan of disappointment, clutching their hearts in pain, giving her a cause to laugh._

"_Richard, don't be rude, get the girl a drink," Emily said handing him her champagne glass as both he and Straub went to get drinks._

"_So how's school, Rory?" Francine asked, motioning her to sit down on the fancy hardback couch while her grandmothers flanked her._

"_It's good," Rory smiled. "I joined the yearbook staff and the newspaper. Keeping myself busy."_

"_That's good. That will look wonderful on those college application, early acceptance to Yale," Emily said. _

"_Or Princeton," Francine inserted._

"_Or Harvard," Rory said with a laugh. She looked over at the open terrace doors as Colin walked in with a boy about her age. His dark brown hair was slicked back and the suit he wore fit his six foot tall frame perfectly. "Grandma, who is that? He's new, isn't he?"_

"_New money," Emily said patting her knee. "His father just made a fortune when he found a coal mine on a construction site. Made millions."_

"_Apparently they're letting just anyone into the gated communities," Francine said. "His family invested in construction companies. They're mostly based in New York, but moved here for their son to get an education at Chilton."_

"_Oh," Rory bit her lip._

"_His name is Dean, sweetie. Forrester. Colin's taken a liking to him, must mean he's a stand up boy," Emily said patting her knee. "Go on, I know you're dying to go to the study. Go on, get out of here."_

"_Thanks, grandma," Rory smiled kissing them both on cheeks before making her way across the room to her grandpa Straub's office. She flipped the switch on the mantle of the fireplace, turned on the warming fire, before grabbing the book she'd left there last night at dinner and settling down on the leather highback chair opened on the page she'd left off._

"_You're… Rory Hayden, right?"_

_She jumped at the new male voice that echoed in the room and looked up to the six foot figure of Dean Forrester._

"_Um… yes. Did you need something?" She asked awkwardly_

"_Just wanted to meet you. Colin's told me a lot about you."_

"_Col..." She cleared her throat. "Colin?"_

"_Yeah," he nodded. "Colin. Uh… what are you reading?"_

_She looked at the cover of the book in her hands and showed it to him. "The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell."_

"_The old guy?"_

_She felt herself get defensive, but calmed down. "He's… inspiring."_

"_We watched one of his interviews in our ancient Greece class at my old school. Everyone fell asleep during it."_

"_It takes an acquired taste to appreciate Joseph Campbell. I've seen The Power of Myth about twenty five times, this is a part of it," she said pointing to the book._

_He raised his hands in defense. "Didn't mean to offend."_

"_You didn't," she laughed. "I'm just a big… dork when it comes to this kind of stuff. Do you read?"_

"_I know how if that's what you're implying."_

"_Oh... I know. I mean obviously. I mean…"_

"_I know," he laughed. "I can see you don't get teased often."_

"_More than you can imagine actually," she muttered._

"_I'm a sci fi person. H.G. Wells… that type of stuff. You ever read?" _

"_Um… I'm not much of a science fiction buff actually. Though I have read War of the Worlds."_

"_What'd you think?"_

"_Not my thing," she said wrinkling her nose._

"_Uh... Colin tells me you like coffee."_

"_I do."_

"_Would you want to get some?"_

"_Now?"_

_  
"No, I mean... Maybe Monday, after school? I'll pick you up."_

"_That sounds… yes, yeah, I'd like that."_

"_Great," he smiled, and Rory bit her lip as his teeth shined white. He was perfect._

Tristan poked his head into the guest room, which was now Rory's room. He didn't see Rory, but he did see a ball in the middle of the bed. He didn't hear crying which was what he had been expecting, but he did hear her breathing a bit labored. Closing the door again he went to the kitchen where he left the two pizzas he had Finn pick up, grabbed the phone and dialed the number he had become very familiar with.

"Hello?"

"Hey… Nate."

"Tristan," Nate laughed. "I get more calls from you than my own mother, and my mother calls me a lot."

"Are you busy?"

Nate looked at his paint splattered canvas and shrugged. "Sort of, why?"

"Rory had a run in with Serena, and I'm thinking she's taking it really hard."

Nate sighed. "She breathing into a paper bag?"

Tristan frowned. "No."

"Oh jeez," Nate said as he put down his paints. "She in the bathroom?"

"Um no… why would she be in the bathroom?"

"Tristan, if she's not puking or breathing into a paper bag, it wasn't that bad of a run in, trust me."

"She attacked her sister."

"Oh my god, she did not!" Nate laughed.

"She did. Colin had to physically restrain her."

"Trust me, this is good, it's a major breakthrough!!" Nate kept laughing. "Oh, I wish I could have seen that bitch's face when Rory went for her."

"Nate, I think something's wrong," Tristan tried again, frustration in his voice.

Nate sighed. "You worry about Rory too much. It's not your job."

"It's not yours either," Tristan pointed out as he leaned against the counter, facing the hallway in case she came out.

"I know, and I don't look at taking care of Rory as a job. I like caring for her, she's my little sister, and she never had an older sibling to take care of her the way we do. She knows how to handle herself with certain people and doesn't take their bullshit. She's a strong girl, Tristan, you just haven't seen it yet."

Tristan smirked remembering how she'd told him right off the bat that she wasn't an easy lay. "I know she's strong," he told Nate. "I just think that something's off."

Nate sighed as he sat on the coffee table and stared at his easel with a tilted head. He'd need to mix colors soon to get the right shade of blue. "Okay, run me through it, what happened?"

Tristan shook his head. "Um... Colin and Rory were talking and Serena came in."

"What was Rory like when she came in?"

Tristan blinked. "What?"

"What was she like, was she passive? Did she stand? Stayed sitting?"

"Does it matter?"

"For Rory yes."

"She stood, stared at her sister, well, more like glared."

"Okay, that's different, she doesn't stare at people straight on, especially not her sister. What set her off?"

"Like what made her attack?"

"Yeah."

"Uh…" he ran the clips of conversation in his head. "I don't know, I heard something about her sixteenth birthday, but that was after she attacked."

"Sixteen?" Nate said standing and grabbing his jacket. "You sure she said sixteenth?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, see this is what you should have mentioned from the beginning."

"So I was right?"

"Yeah, DuGray, you were right."

"So you're coming over?"

"No, I only deal with College Rory's problems. There's a whole other team for high school Rory."

"Team?"

"Sure," he said grabbing his keys and closing his door before heading upstairs to where Jess lived with Steph unofficially. "Look. they'll be there in about ten minutes to half an hour depending on what I'm interrupting. Is she just sleeping?"

"Rory? Yeah."

"Then you don't have to look out for her. She's fine. The cavalry will be there soon bearing ice cream and movies."

Tristan frowned but nodded. "All right. You're sure?"

Nate nodded as he pounded on the door. "Yeah, half an hour tops." He pounded on the door again, only to have it slam open and revel Jess wearing only his boxers and a scowl. "Put pants on Mariano, we've got a code blue." He turned back to the phone conversation. "Make it forty five minutes." He snapped his phone shut and walked into the dorm, where Stephanie was sliding her bra back into place.

"Okay, see you can't just barge in here like that. I could have been naked," Stephanie said with a glare.

"Please," Nate scoffed. "I've seen more of you than I care to," he said throwing her her shirt

"What did you mean by code blue?" Jess asked running a hand through his hair and looking at the floor for his pants.

"Rory attacked her sister."

Both people stopped looking for the discarded clothes and stared at Nate.

"I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say she attacked her sister?" Jess said in shock.

"I just got a call from Tristan telling me that Colin had to restrain Rory as she attacked Serena."

"Oh my god, what happened?" Stephanie asked pulling her jeans on as she stood.

"Serena got Rory kicked out of the dorm," Nate explained. "She's staying with Tristan at the club.,"

"She's staying with…" Jess shook his head. "We'll get to that in a minute, continue."

"I'm guessing Serena went to gloat, Tristan didn't hear everything, but he did hear a certain sixteen birthday party being mentioned."

"Oh fuck," Stephanie said, knowing just what it meant. "Jess."

"Yeah," Jess nodded as he went into the bedroom to grab a shirt after not finding it on the floor. "He lives above the club, right?" He yelled from his room.

"Yeah."

"Status?" Stephanie asked as she put her purse together.

"She was sleeping, no panic attacks."

"She's not sleeping," Jess said stuffing his wallet into his back pocket and grabbing his jacket as Stephanie opened the door. "She's waiting for the inevitable call from her parents."

"Grocery store first?" Stephanie asked as they left the dorm with Nate trailing after them.

"I'll drop you off first, Steph, then go myself. Someone needs to be there when that call comes."

"Then shouldn't you be the one to talk to Lorelai and Chris?"

"Lorelai and Chris hate me," Jess pointed out. "Just answer the phone and hang up. They know it's not Rory doing it."

Stephanie nodded as they left Nate at his dorm. "We'll take care of her," she promised as she started towards the car.

Jess looked at his friend and nodded towards the door. They went inside, Jess going straight for Rory's room and opening her nightstand and grabbing the three pill bottles before patting Nate's arm. "She'll be fine," he promised, shoving the medicines in his jacket pocket before leaving the dorm and following Stephanie who was already waiting by the car door.

XxxX

Tristan sat on the couch watching TV when he heard the knock on the back door. Getting up he went over to answer and found the blonde that he'd met in the club waiting outside anxiously.

"I was told to come up this way," she said.

"Yeah, it's fine," he said letting her through. "Is it only you?" He asked looking behind her.

"Jess dropped me off, he's going to go get some of the things we need." Stephanie heard the ring tune that she knew so well and looked panicked.

"What?" Tristan asked.

"Where is she?"

Tristan pointed to the bedroom where Rory was staying. Before he could ask what was happening, she was running towards the room. He watched as she leapt on the bed and grabbed the cell phone before Rory had a chance to.

"Stephanie!!" Rory said in shock as Stephanie answered and hung up with a sigh of relief.

"You did not need to answer that call."

"But…"

"No, you so do not need to talk to your mother of all people right now."

Rory stared at her best friend in shock. "You can't just hang up on my mother."

"Sure I can. She's not my mother now, is she?"

"But…"

"No buts," Stephanie said. "You've had a hard day and I'm not about to let it get any more difficult by you talking to your bitch of a mother."

Rory gasped. "My mother is not a bitch!"

"Sure she's not." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Now, Jess is off getting ice cream and movies, and I'm here to get you mind off of certain aspects of your life."

Rory frowned. "I'm fine."

"Your red eyes tell me otherwise."

"So I cried, whatever."

"Rory, I know about what was said."

Rory looked over at the door where Tristan was watching. "I'm fine, I swear."

"Ror."

"I promise you, Steph, I'm fine."

"Would you tell me the truth if the door were closed?"

"No," Rory whispered.

Stephanie sighed as she got off the bed, "We're going to need to be left alone. When Jess gets here, tell him to knock and leave the food." She smiled before shutting the door in Tristan's face. She turned back and found Rory under the covers again. With a sigh she took off her shoes and sweater and climbed into the bed and under the covers.

"Why would she bring up Dean, Steph?" Rory whispered quietly. "I never throw Colin in her face."

"I know, sweetie," Stephanie sighed as she gathered Rory in her arms and let her cry.

XxxX

Tristan stared at the door and started back towards the living room. Before he had a chance to sit back down, a knock at the door came. He went back towards the door and opened it to find the man he'd also seen at the club waiting there.

"Jess, I'm Rory's cousin," he introduced himself.

"Tristan."

"Uh… where's Rory?"

Tristan pointed towards the room again. "Your girlfriend said to knock and leave the food outside."

Jess nodded and knocked on the door twice. "Steph, I'm coming in." Jess heard a mutter and took it as a sign to walk in. He left the door slightly open as he went towards the bed and partially uncovered the bodies in the bed.

"Hey," he said kissing the top of Rory's sobbing head. "I'm leaving your meds in your nightstand, okay? Take them as needed." He felt her nod and turned to Stephanie. "I'll leave the food by the desk. Do you want me to stay?"

"Please," Stephanie whispered. "I'll come and get you when she falls back asleep."

"Did they call?" Jess asked.

"I got here just in time," Stephanie whispered.

He kissed her forehead and left the room, closing the door behind him. He saw Tristan walking towards the living room and followed.

"I've got pizza on the counter and beer in the fridge, help yourself."

"Thanks," Jess nodded as he grabbed a beer and saw the paper plates on the counter and grabbed a slice of pizza before sitting next to Tristan on the couch. "She's a lot better by the way."

"Huh?"

"Rory, there's usually not this much drama in her life," Jess sighed. "Okay, that's a lie. There's a lot of drama in our family."

"Yours included?"

Jess shook his head as he bit into the slice of pepperoni pizza. "No, my life is pretty uneventful. Steph and I, we thrive on each other, we're pretty drama-free most of the time."

"Roll with the punches?"

Jess laughed. "Sort of. Steph and I have an odd relationship… we're step cousins."

Tristan stared at him. "What?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah, that's why Rory's parents hate us, they think it's unnatural. The way I see it, we're not actually related, so when we have kids, they're not going to come out mutants."

Tristan laughed. "So how does that work?"

"My uncle Luke adopted her. She was the daughter of one of his close friends from high school, he and his wife were killed in a car accident when Steph was five. And surprise, surprise, they left Luke the legal guardian."

"No other relatives?"

Jess shook his head. "Nope. My uncle Luke? Not a people person. He's real surly, a big grump and at times a cynic," Jess laughed. "So me at six, watching him handle this little girl? Most entertaining thing I've ever seen. It used to make Rory laugh a lot, which Luke always got a kick out of."

"When'd you find out Steph was the one for you?" Tristan asked, interested in the story.

"Uh, probably when I met her. My mom introduced us as cousins, and I refused to believe it. I grabbed her hand, told her that we were in no way related and that we were going to get married that day."

"Stephanie's reaction?"

Jess laughed. "Punched me in the eye, told me that she didn't want to get married and pushed me down. Uncle Luke got a real good laugh for that."

Tristan couldn't help but laugh either. "That sounds interesting."

"Yeah, the tables turned when we were in middle school and she started liking me," Jess told him. "Chased after me for a few good months."

"Excuse me?"

They both turned to see the blonde glaring at her boyfriend.

"I mean…"

"Jess chased after me," Stephanie said going into the kitchen without prompting and grabbing a beer for herself and a slice of pizza, before sitting in front of Jess between his legs. "I had a boyfriend at the time, really sweet guy." She heard Jess scoff and hit his leg. "He would shower me with gifts and pay me the utmost attention," she told Tristan. "But… Jess was so much hotter at thirteen, with his leather jacket and scowl, that I couldn't help but break up with the guy and get with Jess."

Jess frowned. "That's not how it worked. You came crying to me, telling me the jerk kissed someone else. I went and beat him up for you."

Stephanie laughed. "You have Rory to thank for that. She thought it would stroke your ego if you were made into the hero."

Tristan couldn't help but laugh at the look of disbelief on Jess's face.

"All these years…"

Stephanie shrugged and patted his leg. "I was going to let you keep the idea that you saved me in your head well into us growing old together, but I didn't want Tristan to get the idea of me being weak."

"I never did," Tristan said.

"Good, 'cause I'm not, and neither is Rory."

Tristan frowned. "I never thought Rory as weak. I think it takes a lot of strength to deal with someone like her sister."

"It does," Jess nodded. "It drains her though. You have her phone, right?"

Stephanie handed it to Jess. "She called again. I think you should talk to aunt Lorelai."

Jess rolled his eyes. "I'll talk to uncle Luke later."

Stephanie nodded as she finished her pizza. Hearing the rustle in the hall they all turned and saw Rory shuffling forward.

"Hey, sweetie, I thought you were asleep."

"I think I'm ready for ice cream now," Rory whispered looking away from Tristan.

Tristan stood causing Rory to back up a step. "I'll be downstairs. It's Finn's day off so I'm going to help Paris run the bar if you guys need me."

Jess nodded and stood as well as Tristan left. Stephanie stood up and wrapped her arms around Rory. "You know he's a nice guy," she whispered as Jess cleaned up the paper plates in the living room.

"Mhmm," Rory said as they sat on the bed, Rory automatically found her place laying her head on Stephanie's leg as Stephanie ran her hands through Rory's hair.

"I think you can trust him, Ror."

Rory stared at the wall. "I don't think I want to, Steph."

"Why?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know him."

"Then get to know him." Stephanie leaned down and brushed a kiss on Rory's temple. "You have got to stop letting the past get the best of you. He's not Dean."

Rory squeezed her eyes shut. "I know."

"Then stop acting like he is. You aren't sixteen and he isn't that floppy haired jerk. I trust him."

Jess came into the room and smirked. "Well, if we're going to have some girl on girl action, I'm in."

Stephanie laughed and looked up at her boyfriend. "We're all related, Jess."

Jess laughed. "Baby, if we were related, we wouldn't have done half the things we've done."

Rory buried her head in Stephanie's leg as she laughed. "That is more than I ever wanted to know."

Jess got on the bed and kissed the top of Rory's head. "Now, I rented movies."

Rory groaned. "You let Jess get the movies!"

Stephanie laughed. "I trust that he didn't get anything inappropriate."

Jess sighed. "I guess Star Whores is out."

"Oh god," Stephanie and Rory said in unison with a laugh. Rory clutched her belly at Jess's disappointed face and couldn't help but laugh harder. She thanked god she had the friends she had, if she didn't… she didn't know how she would face the difficult situations she always found herself in.

XxxxxxxxX

_**AN:**_

_**I know I haven't updated this in a while. I finally figured out what was wrong so I fixed it, lol. The next chapter will have more of Rory, Jess and Stephanie's family history and how exactly it works. Dean is the bad guy in this... so sorry for all the Dean lovers. As you all know I'm not the biggest dean fan, so I happen to like making him the bad guy.**_

_**Hope you all enjoyed it. And please review!!**_

_**Kassandra**_


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